20 Years into the Past
by jnglkat
Summary: EDITED. Attempting to resurrect Sirius, Harry Ron and Hermione manage to go back in time. Romance begins to blossom…and the trio must face a hard decision- Stay there, or go back to the future. Involves a dance, Death Eater fight and pranks. HGSB HPOC L/J
1. Hermione's Discovery

Summary: Attempting to bring Sirius back from the dead, Harry, Ron and Hermione manage to get themselves back in time. Love begins to blossom in unlikely places…and the trio must face a hard decision- stay, or go back to the future. Involves a dance, a death eater fight, and pranks with the Marauders! HGSB HPOC RW?

**A/N My first fic!**

Harry sat gazing out at the window at the sky. The Dog Star shone brightly through the night's fog. Sirius, Harry thought, and the word echoed throughout his mind. Why of all people did Sirius have to die? He felt the sharp edges of his own nails digging into his palms as his fists clenched. He had asked that question to himself a million times. It was driving him crazy. If only, some way, somehow, he could get Sirius back...

"Harry!"

Harry looked up, a little annoyed, as the peacefulness of his room in Grimauld's Place was shattered by the thumping of feet. The door crashed open, and Ron and Hermione tumbled in, looking out of breath. Hermione was clutching a thick, moldy-looking black book. Harry looked at it warily. "More light reading, Hermione?"

Hermione shook her head, as Ron grinned at him. "This is the book to 'raise the dead,'. That's what the cover says, at least"

Harry stared at him. "What?"

Hermione sighed. "I found this book in the Grimauld library-."

"There's a library here?" Ron asked.

Hermione hit him lightly on the head with the book. "Yes, _Ronald_. Where'd you think I got the book?"

Ron shrugged, looking confused. "I dunno, you usually just-."

"_Anyways," _Hermione said, impatiently. "This book has many complicated spells, many much harder than NEWT level, (which I have mastered, by the way) and there's one spell where you can 'Bring the deceased loved ones back to life', if they're dead less than a moon cycle ago."

Harry looked at her, hope beginning to rise in his chest. No. It couldn't be.

Hermione sighed. "What I mean, Harry, is we can bring Sirius back."

Harry stared at her, finding it suddenly hard to breathe. "Bring-bring Sirius back? Seriously?"

Hermione nodded solemnly as Ron grinned. "Wouldn't it be cool, mate? You could ask him what being dead was like!"­

"We have to actually _do _it first." Hermione interrupted, opening the book to a marked page. "Sirius has been dead for a bit over a week. We should do it soon."

"Now?" Ron asked in surprise.

Hermione hesitated. "I don't know. It isn't often that we're here alone. Your mum took Ginny and the others to Diagon Alley, and Fleur's with Bill at the hospital." She glanced sideways at Harry. "What do you think, Harry?"

Harry swallowed. So soon? But if not now then when? Remus Lupin was looking older and more tired by the day. He was now the only Marauder left alive. Harry couldn't wait for his former teacher to be reunited with his friend.

"Harry?"

Harry nodded nervously. "Now's fine." In just a few minutes, barring any difficulties, his godfather could be back with them.

"Okay you two." Hermione opened up her book again. "We're already at the place of Sirius' birth, so that's fine. " She held up a couple long black hairs. "I found these in his room. Animagus hairs should count right? Okay, now swirl your wand points in a figure eight and repeat, orgoff."

Ron stared at her in disbelief." Did you say _orgoff_? I mean," he added hastily as Hermione cast him a sharp look. "Orgoff, Yeah, I've no problem with that. Just a little odd, you know?"

The boys did as they were told, and Hermione began to mutter words under her breath, all the while doing complicated movements with her wand.

It paid to have a know-it-all for a friend, thought Harry. He regretted that thought a moment later as they suddenly began to spin around, faster and faster. High winds roared around them. It was like traveling by port key, only 10 times worse. This couldn't be happening. _Shouldn't_ be happening. Harry closed his eyes, expecting the worst...and then they seemed to come to an abrupt halt. Harry felt himself falling, and then he hit a hard stone floor with a thud.


	2. Confusion

Hermione screamed as the wind whipped around her. This wasn't supposed to be happening. Sirius was supposed to _come to them_. They weren't supposed to go anywhere. And then came the falling sensation and she landed on something. Hermione lay there for a moment as her world came into focus. She was at Hogwarts.

"Hey, you plan on sitting on me forever?" asked an unknown voice.

Hermione looked down and realized she had knocked over a boy. He had sleek black hair and looked to be around 16, her own age. She jumped up, feeling flustered. "Oh, sorry, I didn't see you."

The boy looked up at her strangely.

"I mean-." For once, Hermione was at loss for words. She extended a hand to help him up. "What I meant was, I'm really sorry. I'm-I'm Hermione Granger."

The boy shrugged, and smiled, flashing white teeth. "No problem, I'm Sirius Black."

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Ron wandered down the hallway. Where in the world were Harry and Hermione? And why was he at Hogwarts? Ron shook his head wryly. Who knew he'd be back in school after only a few days of summer vacation. This would all be Hermione's fault for finding that book. He was busy composing what he would say to her when he found her, when a loud voice said "And what are you doing wandering the halls at this hour?"

Apparently teachers had to work at school during the summer. Sucks for them. Expecting to see Snape's ugly face, Ron turned reluctantly around, and stared. He was facing a short, fat man with watery blue eyes and an enormous ginger colored mustache.

"Who are _you_?"

The man seemed extremely upset at this. "Who am I? Who am I? I am your potions master, Professor Slughorn-" He grasped Ron's arm in a surprisingly strong grip."-and I don't quite seem to remember who _you_ are,"

Ron backed away. He had never seen this man before. "I-I-what are you doing-who are?" He spluttered.

Slughorn eyed him suspiciously. "No, I don't know you are. Hey! What are you doing here?" He advanced towards Ron. Ron wrenched his arm away, turned, and dashed headlong down the hall, concentrating on getting as much distance as he could from the crazy person who claimed to be the potions master.

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Harry rubbed his aching left arm as he sat up. He was in Hogwarts, only a slightly different Hogwarts. Some of the paintings were different, they looked older. Judging from the lack of noise, it appeared to be night.

"Ron? Hermione?" Harry whispered, not wanting to attract too much attention. No one answered. Sighing, he dug into the pockets of his robes and pulled out the Marauder's Map. Lucky he had taken to keeping it in his pocket where ever he went.

Looking to make sure no one was there, Harry tapped it with his wand." I solemnly swear I am up to no good."

Sliding down to the base of a wall, he studied the map. "Ronald Weasley" was on the 3rd floor, moving steadily away from a dot marked "Horace Slughorn". Probably new DADA teacher, Harry thought. Searching downstairs, he found "Hermione Granger" with-

"Sirius Black." Harry whispered, not daring to believe his eyes. "Sirius! We got him back!" But why were they brought to Hogwards to do so?

"Excuse me." Harry turned to see a boy about his own age coming up next to him. He looked slightly…familiar. "Have you seen Sirius B-" The boy stopped abruptly and bent to examine the map.

Harry quickly snatched it away and stuffed it in his pocket. "Just some spare parchment. I got some ink on it and-."

The boy was looking at him strangely. "What was that?"

Harry clenched his fist around his wand nervously. Why was he so interested? And who was he? "Nothing! What are you talking about?"

"Hey, Moony!"

The 2 turned as a boy with messy black hair run up to them. Harry stared. Moony?

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Hermione gulped. "S-S-Sirius B Black?"

The boy nodded as he stood up. "That's my name."

Hermione took a deep breath and smiled wanly. "Oh! That's wonderful!" Feeling dizzy, she grabbed onto the surprised Sirius' arm. "Where are we? I'm a little confused." That was hard to say. Hermione Granger was never confused. But here she was, facing a 16 year old Sirius Black. Sirius was supposed to be dead!

Sirius looked at her oddly. "We're at Hogwarts. Are you sure you're alright?"

Hermione shook her head, thinking fast. "I'm new here. Professor Dumbledore said I was in Gryffindor, but I don't know where Gryffindor Tower is!" Lame. Who on earth would believe that?

But Sirius just shrugged nonchalantly, not seeming to care. "Come on then. It's _orgoff._ Strange password, I know." He motioned for Hermione to follow him up the stairs.

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Ron stumbled away, dashing as fast as he could away from the maniac potion's master, instinctively heading towards Gryffindor Tower. As he leaned against the wall, panting, he saw a girl and a boy come into view.

"Hermione! Harry! Did you see that potion's master, Slughorn? The guy's a complete lunatic!"

Hermione stared at him. The boy, who up close was evidently not Harry, laughed. "Yeah, Slughorn? The guy's been around for like, 50 years. Has a crush on Lily or something."

Ron stared. "Who are you?"

Hermione glared at him. "Don't be rude Ron, this is Sirius."

Ron's eyes bulged. "Sirius! We got him back!"

Sirius looked at him strangely. "Uh, yeah, I came back. You didn't think I'd decided not to come back to Hogwarts after the summer with _my_ folks, did you?"

"But I mean-"

Hermione kicked Ron in the shins. "Quit it." She whispered meaningfully, and walked up to a newer looking portrait of the fat lady. "Orgoff." The portrait swung open, and she and Sirius clambered in. Ron stared at them for a few second before hurrying after.

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Harry felt his heart thumping loudly in his chest as he stared at the boy who could've passed as his own twin. "Dad?"

James Potter stared as Remus half laughed, half coughed in embarrassment for his friend.

Harry felt his face flush. "I-I mean, James!"

James eyed him. "Do I know you?"

Harry thought wildly. "Uh no, you don't. But I do. Know you, I mean Dumbledore said… You were my partner." What the heck was a partner?

"Your partner?" James repeated, obviously confused.

Harry thought fast. "Um yeah. I'm an exchange student from …America."

"Cool." Remus said, holding out his hand. "I'm Remus Lupin."

Harry shook it, a little shaky from nearly giving himself away. "I'm Harry Potter."

James stared. "Did Dumbledore make us partners because we had the same last names?"

'Potter?" Harry said nervously. "I mean, Palter. I'm Harry Palter."

The other two looked at him liked he'd just escaped from an Asylum. Harry didn't blame them. Then James grinned at him. "So what do I do, as your partner?"

Harry shrugged." Uh, show me around? I'm in Gryffindor by the way."

"C'mon then." James said, tugging on Harry's arm. "I'll show you Gryffindor Tower."


	3. Getting the story right

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of JK Rowling's characters**

There were only five people left in the common room: four girls, and one boy, in the 6th year, when Sirius, Ron, and Hermione climbed in.

"Hey, Padfoot!" The short boy called from an armchair. He had watery brown eyes and rather large front teeth. Hermione and Ron glared at him. Peter glanced at them warily and shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He wrenched his gaze back towards Sirius, his eyebrows creased.

"Yo Wormtail," Sirius said, taking an empty armchair. "And ladies." He added courteously, nodding at the girls.

"Where's James?" demanded a red head.

"Relax, Lily." Sirius said in a superior tone. "He's out, as usual."

"Hey," exclaimed a girl with wild, curly brown hair. "Who're your friends?"

Sirius jumped up, looking guilty, having evidently forgotten Hermione and Ron for the moment. "Nina, this is Hermione Granger, and..." he looked questionably at Ron.

"Ron Weas- Wesley." The redhead said, looking self-conscious.

"So, where are you from?" asked a girl with short black hair and bright grey eyes, who was sitting near them on the rug.

Hermione thought hurriedly "We're exchange students from...from Canada." Just as Ron said "Ireland." They looked at each other.

"Ireland." Hermione said, as Ron said "Canada." The others stared at them.

"Canada." Hermione said, blushing. "We're from Canada."

Sirius shrugged. "Cool, do you speak French-" If he noticed any of the awkwardness going on with Hermione's background, he didn't say anything. Or seemed to care, for that matter.

Just then the portrait swung open and another three people climbed in, one of them looking especially dazed.

"Hey, Prongs, and Moony." Sirius said, walking up to them. Peter jumped down and followed.

"Harry!" Hermione gasped. "Where were you?"

"You know them, Harry?" James asked, staring at Hermione and Ron. "Fellow exchange students from America?"

"America?" Sirius said, clapping a hand over James' shoulder. "Prongs ole man, they're from Canada."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked at each other uncomfortably.

"We-ell," Harry said, making the syllable extra long to buy time, "I'm actually from Canada, I was just- I decided to uh, go to school in the United States." He finished lamely.

Hermione mentally slapped herself on the forehead. Boys could be so stupid.

Sirius looked at Harry blankly. "So you were an exchange student in the US and now you're an exchange student here? What, does Canada have really bad schools or something?"

Harry snuck a look at Hermione who crossed her arms and glared at him.

"Uh, no." Harry said nervously. "I just-fancied the American scenery, and the, uh people. Then I decided I wanted to compare the life styles of the English with the Americans, so I, er went here..." His voice trailed off.

Hermione could've sworn she could hear crickets chirping.

"Ah. I see" James said, not looking like he saw it.

Harry had never fully appreciated the design of the rug on the Gryffindor common room as much as now.

"So who are your partners?" Remus asked, as if to make polite conversation.

"Partners?" Ron asked incredulously.

"You now Ron, the partners who are supposed to show us around." Harry said quickly.

"Ohhh." Hermione said, playing along. She elbowed Ron as he opened his mouth, looking confused. "I'm with Nina."

The curly-haired girl stepped forward. "Hi, I'm Nina. Nina Vasquez."

"Hey." Hermione said, smiling at her.

"I'm with ...Remus Lupin?" Ron said, catching on...sort of.

"We should all get some sleep." Lily cut in. "Its 1 AM."

"What'd we do without you, Evans." Sirius said with a grin.

"Don't, Black." Lily muttered, flicking back a strand of long red hair. James sighed, watching her longingly.

"C'mon Prongs," Sirius said, turning James around. "You lovesick stag."

Hermione laughed. Sirius turned around and winked at her before heading up the stairs with the rest of the boys. Harry turned slightly to look back at Hermione, partly in panic. She wrenched her gaze from Sirius and mouthed 2 o'clock, and looked pointedly at the common room.

"C'mon. I'll show you the sixth year dormitory." Nina said, taking Hermione's arm. The five girls trooped upstairs.

"You can have Heather's bed." The black-haired girl offered. "She went to a different school, somewhere in Switzerland. Supposedly."

Hermione stared at her.

"Sammi!" somebody shrieked. The 2 turned to see a girl with dirty blond hair point at her bed.

The black-haired girl jumped up. "Sorry Lira! Accio." A huge orange cat flew into her arms. He had a rather squashed faced, not exactly someone who'd win a beauty pageant, but Hermione stared. It looked exactly like Crookshanks.

After a minute of dazed staring around the slightly familiar room, she slid into Heather's bed. The other girls took a little longer to quiet down, as they chatted about transfiguration, Slughorn, the potion's master that Ron had been ranting about, and sympathized with Lily over her persistent admirer. Apparently, James was an "occasionally cute, but mostly annoying, conceited pighead", according to Lily, while the other girls argued that he was a "hot, if occasionally immature quidditch star". Sammi and Nina had a long conversation over quidditch, which Hermione knew nothing about, but finally the others quieted down. Fighting sleep, Hermione waited until 2:00 am, by looking at the luminous quidditch clock by Sammi's bed, before sneaking out of bed and into the common room.

Harry was already sitting by the fire. Ron sat in an armchair, already starting to snore. Hermione lost no time after shaking him awake. "Looks like we're about 20 years back in time." Harry nodded, gazing into the crackling fire. Ron stared at her drowsily. "What do we do?" He slurred.

Hermione shook her head. "We'll search something in the library, but for now, I think we just have to blend with the crowd. We should get these facts straight. We are exchange students from Canada, okay? We did not came blowing in from the future, 'cause that'd sound way too weird, and don't tell anyone. Not even your dad or Sirius." She added towards Harry. "Don't attract too much attention, and we'll find a way to get back soon." The two boys nodded. "And Harry, you can't have the same last names as James."

Harry nodded. "I said I was Harry Palter."

Hermione nodded. "Nice. Sooo...I guess we can order books or something for our classes here." She searched her pockets. "I've a few galleons and sickles left from my birthday."

Ron shrugged sheepishly. "None here."

They turned to Harry. He wordlessly reached into his pocket and pulled out a small bag bulging with coins. They stared at it.

Harry sighed. "Don't ask. It was from the ministry with the...incident and all."

"Okay." Hermione smiled wanly. "I guess we can order supplies and fit in for a while. Might as well enjoy this while we can. Lucky tomorrow's Saturday."

Footsteps were heard from the doorway. "Hermione?" The black-haired girl with the grey eyes called Sammi, looked in tentatively from the stairs. She spotted Harry, and grinned. "Enjoying the English scenery?"

Harry flushed. "Yeah. It's, uh different."

Sammi laughed while Ron shook his head. Hermione stood up. "I'm coming. Good night guys."

And the three separated to their dormitories.

**So there's the 3rd chapter. Thank you so much for the reviews. I was afraid no one was liking my story, so it would've been pointless to continue. ****Yeah, and I know I'm bad at chapter titles.**

**cec123: Thanx. I hope you continue to like it.**

**Reanne1102: More thanx. I couldn't make Hermione tell Sirius what was really going on, because it'd sound really weird that she came from the future and Sirius would think she was crazy and yeah...**

**Serendipity-England-1922:D My first reviewer! Yeah, and yet more thanks for the review**

**annnnd Alikat: I did get it working! even if it did take 50 hours. Thanks for the review(s). Am I thanking people too much? okay. I think I'm typing more than neccessary. d**


	4. Quidditch injury Blame Dinas!

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry and co or the Marauders. But I do own Ian Dinas. Mua ha ha...**

Harry woke up early Saturday morning to a frenzy of excitement from his fellow 6th year Gryffindors. "What's up?" he asked, stifling a yawn as he got out of bed.

"First quidditch match against Slytherin!" Remus exclaimed over a copy of _Advanced Rune Translations_. This proved Ron's theory- that Hermione was the only one who read those books out of class- was wrong.

.James was the center of attention as the Gryffindor seeker. Several 5th year girls giggled as he passed. Burly 7th years patted him on the back. Peter followed him around everywhere like a little lapdog. Even Lily wasn't as sarcastic as usual.

"Make way!" Sirius shouted, waving his hands around at a crowd of people standing in the common room, oblivious to the fact he had already knocked over 2 lamps, "Make way for the Gryffindor seeker!"

Harry felt a pang in his stomach. He'd always been the Gryffindor seeker. He thought longingly for his Firebolt. What if they were stuck here? What if he never got a chance to play quidditch again? Then he saw James ahead of him and pushed all those thoughts away. He was about to watch his _father_ play an actual quidditch match.

"What's the whole deal with a quidditch match?" Ron asked sulkily, as the three sat together on a couch.

"I read in _Hogwarts a History_ that quidditch was more of a big deal back then." Hermione answered, as usual, as she watched with an amused expression as Sirius attempted to make a replica of a lion's head roar. It wasn't working.

"Hey, look at it this way, mate." Ron said. "You'll see your dad fly!"

Harry nodded, the old excitement welling in his chest. "Hey Sirius!" He called. "Are any other 6th years beside James on the quidditch team?"

Sirius, who was frantically ducking as slime flew out of the lion's open jaws, called back "Taglia."

"Taglia?" Hermione repeated, looking suddenly thoughtful.

"Yeah, Samantha Taglia." Sirius said, giving her an odd look

"Black!" Sammi, from all the way across the room threw a pillow at him. "I'm Sammi, not Samantha!"

Sirius caught the pillow and chivied away with an expression of mock fright. "Chasers." He muttered, shaking his head as Sammi stormed off. "Nina's a chaser too." he added as the curly haired girl walked past. At that moment, a large hairball flew out of the lion's open jaws, hitting Sirius directly in the face. "Oh, gross!" He muttered, spitting out several cat hairs as James and Harry roared with laughter.

Fighting down a grin, Hermione walked up next to Sirius and took out her wand. "hablas leon." Immediately, the lion let out a deep, bellowing roar.

"Nice." Sirius said in admiration. He leaned into the jaws of the lion, and missed seeing her blush.

After breakfast in the great hall, everyone filed outside and took a place out on the field.

"Sirius is Commentator!" Hermione shouted over the noise.

Harry looked up, and sure enough, the familiar tall form was standing on a podium, holding a mike. "And we have the Gryffindor quidditch team!" he shouted as 7 scarlet blurs sped out to thunderous applause. "Vasquez, Taglia, Farland, Mcvay, Chen, annnd Potter!" Harry cheered along with the other Gryffindors, following his dad with his eyes.

"And the Slytherin team." Sirius continued without _quite_ as much enthusiasm. "Dinas, Barnes, Mclath, Lestrange, Gherig, Bole and Macnair."

Hermione's eyes widened. "There are at least 2 death eaters on that team!" Harry nodded, glaring furtively at the green cloaked figures.

Down below, Madam Hooch threw open the crate.

"And the balls are in play!" Sirius called. "Nice snatch there by Sammi Taglia! She's speeding towards the Slytherin goal post with the quaffle. A neat loop around the bludger hit by Gherig, and it's just her and Macnair...and she scores! 10-0 Gryffindor!"

Harry saw Sammi punch the air as she soared through the air, then ouch! Sammi nearly fell off her broom as Lestrange, (Not Bellatrix, but her husband) a chaser, crashed into her. "Oops, didn't see her!" He smirked. A moment later, Alec Mcvay, a Gryffindor beater, swung a bludger at Lestrange before play even started.

"Penalty!" Madam Hooch shrieked. "For both teams!"

"And Nina Vasquez flies forward to take the shot." Sirius said into the mike. "Come on Nina, you can get past that-." He said something that made Professor McGonagall go "Black! One more time and-"

"Okay, okay." Sirius said, hurriedly getting back to the game. "And Vasquez shoots...Macnair slips on his broom, ha that must hurt, and it goes through! 20-0 Gryffindor!"

Harry cheered along with the rest, the excitement of quidditch getting into him.

"Slytherin Tara Mclath goes to take the penalty."

Hermione squinted at the figure clad in green. A skinny 6th year girl with long, thin, blonde hair and pale blue eyes flew forwards. Nearby, Sammi was looking at her with narrowed eyes. Hermione had a feeling there was more to this than just quidditch.

"Of course, Kevin's a great keeper. Fabulous, wonderful. Not very easy to get through-I don't believe it! He's saved it!"

Relieved, Harry turned towards his dad. James was flying slowly around the stadium, his eyes darting expertly here and there, looking for the snitch. Harry felt another pang of nostalgia, then quickly focused back onto the game.

"And Slytherin in possession, Rodulphus Lestrange with the quaffle. He loops a bludger; Another bludger by Tony Chen catches him. All right! Lestrange drops the quaffle. Sammi Taglia darts forward and snatches it right from under Mclath's nose, so there! Man, that girl's a good flier."

Harry watched in admiration as Sammi did a series of complicated turns to get past two bludgers.

"And she shoots, wait, I lied. That was a fake! Macnair dives for thin air and Sammi throws a long pass to Vasquez, who scores. 30-0 Gryffindor!"

"Wow." Harry murmured.

"Yeah, mate." Ron said excitedly. "Wish she was on our team."

The crowd suddenly booed. Harry and Ron looked up. Kevin Rojas, the Gryffindor keeper, had been knocked out by a bludger. Tara Mclath raced up the sidelines and hurled the quaffle through the empty goal post. 10-30. Sirius muttered something, and in the next second Bole, a 7th year who resembled a sick donkey, hurled his bat at him. Sirius yelped and ducked, the heavy wood cannoning past the place his head had been a moment before. The crowd of people behind Sirius screamed, scrambling away from the offending bat.

"You think he's okay?" Hermione exclaimed anxiously.

Sirius stood up, looking a bit dazed and glowered at Bole, who in turn protested that his bat had slipped. To the Gryffindors' fury, Madam Hooch bought his excuse.

This was just the beginnings of a long and dirty game. Harry counted a total of 29 penalties awarded. Disheartened by their disabled keeper, the Gryffindor quidditch team began to lose their fire, only getting 1 lousy penalty goal. The Slytherin's however, caught up by 11 more goals after Kevin Rojas was knocked out.

"40-120, Slytherin." Sirius groaned, tapping his fingers impatiently against his wand as Corri Bangs scored. The sea of green cheered madly.

"C'mon Vasquez!" Sirius shouted as Nina caught the quaffle. "She swerves and passes to Taglia! Taglia is streaking up the field-duck, Sammi! Those are bludgers!"

Sammi cart wheeled to avoid getting her head knocked off, but dropped the ball.

"Lestrange catches the quaffle and heads towards the Gryffindor goal post, and with no Rojas, there's no obstacle. 40-130 Slytherin." Sirius muttered a bad word and Pr. McGonagall tried to take the microphone away from him.

"Sorry Professor won't happen again!" Sirius said, ducking under her outstretched arm. "And Taglia in possession. She passes to Farland who's just speeding past those Slytherins. She ducks and passes back to Sammi. Sammi shoots and its 50-130." Sirius exclaimed. "...Slytherin." he added under his breath.

Harry sighed and sat back. This would be a long game.

"It's 3 hours into the game and there's still no sign of the snitch. That could be the record!"

Harry shifted his gaze back towards his dad. James' face was strained with frustration as he scanned frantically around. Ian Dinas, the rat-faced Slytherin seeker was hovering lazily above James.

"Now it's 80-210, Slytherin." Sirius was saying with obvious frustration. "Scored by Mclath."

Kevin Rojas had recovered enough to continue playing, but it was obvious to all that he wouldn't be able to stop many after getting winded like he had.

"Gryffindor in possession. Farland with the quaffle, nice pass to Taglia who ouch, narrowly missed getting hit with a bludger and she shoots, Macnair blocks, and yo! Look!"

The crown watched as if entranced as the 2 seekers suddenly dove.

"It's the snitch! It's finally been seen! James Potter is reaching out. Dinas close beside him. And a bludger hit by Chen heads towards Dinas. He...slips? I think he slipped. Anyhow whoa! He falls onto Pron-James Potter! Dang, and the 2 seekers are falling!"

Harry watched in shock as the 2 fell towards the ground. The brooms slowed them down a bit, but they both landed with a heavy thud.

"James!" Sirius shouted abandoning the mike. Harry jumped up too, ignoring all thoughts of anything else. A crowd of kids and teachers had surrounded the 2 injured seekers.

"Move back! One of the teachers shouted, pushing back the crowd of students. "Move back I say!"

"Come on Harry." Hermione said, pulling on his arm. She cast a worried look at Sirius who was struggling with 2 teachers. "We'll have to go in. To her surprise, he followed her, his face expressionless.

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Harry, Hermione and Ron sat with Sirius and Remus as the 2 sat doing their homework in the common room that evening. Well, supposedly did their homework. Remus was, at least. Sirius seemed too distracted to worry about such mundane things. Madam Pomfrey had only allowed James' fellow quidditch teammates to see him; otherwise Sirius would probably have been tearing up the hospital wing.

"I can't believe that freak Dinas actually fell on James!" Sirius was ranting. Harry whole heartedly agreed with him. "If James has any permanent injuries-"

At that moment, the subject of their conversation climbed in through the portrait.

"James!" Harry and Sirius yelled at the same time. "And Sammi." Harry added shyly as Sammi followed, trailed by Nina. Sammi grinned tiredly at him.

"They're resuming the match tomorrow?" Hermione was saying.

"Of course, they always do. Hermy"

Hermione glared at Sirius. "Don't call me Hermy, Snuffles"

"Snuffles?" Sirius yelped.

Nina and Remus burst out laughing.

"Nice one Hermione." Nina said.

Hermione cast a guilty look at Ron and Harry, who winced. Oops, she mouthed.

"She means when you're a d-"Harry stopped. He wasn't supposed to know Sirius was an animagus. "She means sometimes you, uh, snuffle." Harry finished lamely. He groaned inwardly. This just showed exactly how good he was at telling lies.

"I do not _snuffle._" Sirius said in mock anger.

"Uh huh." Hermione said, flicking Sirius with her finger. Sirius flung a pillow at her. The two collapsed into laughter. Ron looked at Harry and raised his eyebrow. Harry shrugged. At that moment, they all realized James hadn't said a word yet.

"You okay mate?" Sirius asked, sitting up.

James nodded, uncharacteristically subdued. "Yeah, my arm just feels funny, that's all. I think I'll go to bed."

They watched him trudge up the stairs. Sirius shook his head angrily. "It's all Dinas' fault."

Sammi nodded. "I saw him in the halls an hour ago. He was fine, while James was still in the hospital wing. I heard him tell Lucius he purposely dragged James down with him."

Sirius' fists clenched. "I'll kill him." The rest of the evening was spent discussing hexes and jinxes and gory deaths for Dinas as the Gryffindors plotted revenge they knew they wouldn't carry out anyways.

**So that's the 4th chapter. Sorry for those of you who find quidditch boring. The main part of the story comes later. In case you were wondering, this**_**is**_**a HG/SB story, even if it seemed like Sirius is close to Sammi. Okay, now press that button down there and Review!**

**amrawo: thank you. Hermione is yelling at Harry right now for making up his story without consulting her first.**

**Serendipity-England-1922:** **I did update:D**

**sirius black and remy: No fear. I'll have a guilty conscience if I don't finish this story.**

**Reanne1102:Thanx This**_**is**_**a Hermione/Sirius story. Don't worry, they'll get close later on.**

**Alikat: heh heh thanks. and I know my chapter titles suck...like this one. Your review didn't get cut off. Yay!**

**Happy Late Thanksgiving everyone!**


	5. Posing as James

**Disclaimer: Do not own JKR's characters.**

Harry opened the curtains around his bed the next morning to find a small crowd gathered around the foot of somebody's bed._James'_ bed. Harry jumped out of his covers and hurried over. James was holding his limp right wrist and wincing.

"Why didn't you tell Madame Pomfrey?" Remus was asking anxiously.

James shook his head. "I didn't know it was this bad. And anyway, Lucius and Dinas and…Snivelus were already laughing at how long I stayed in the ouch! Hospital Wing," James winced again.

"Why would you care what those buffoons think?" Sirius demanded, pacing around anxiously.

The door suddenly swung open and the 5 sixth year girls dashed in. "Oh James, are you okay?" Lily asked nervously.

James managed a weak smile. "Didn't know you cared about me so much, Evans."

Lily scowled anxiously. "Don't push it Potter. If it weren't for your wrist…" She paused, her threatening look only spoiled by the worry in her eyes.

"What's the matter with it?" Lira asked, peering over Remus' shoulder.

Sirius shook his head. "He landed on it when he hit the ground."

"And now we don't have a seeker," Sammi finished.

This predicament dawned on them all. "But I have to play!" James cried, trying to get up. "This is the Slytherins! We have to beat them!" He stumbled over somebody's' foot and instinctively caught on to his bed rail with his right arm. He collapsed on to the bed, clutching the wrist "It's no good. I can't even hold anything, much less my broom…or the snitch."

"Can't Madam Pomfrey fix it?" Harry asked.

Nina shook her head. "Bones are easy to fix, but muscles and that stuff take longer. Something to do with the coordination or whatever. James tore some muscle and tendon" The others winced.

"And he left the hospital wing too early for his wrist to heal completely." Remus said quietly. James glared guiltily at his sheets.

"Can't we just find a replacement?" Hermione asked. "As a seeker I mean."

Sirius shook his head in mock sadness at her and nodded at James, who turned red.

"Ahm, we could…" James' face turned even redder. "But I've, er, got a perfect record right now. Like, I've never sat out, or lost a game ever, and Umm, I'm trying to beat Sloker's, that's a Slytherin who went to Hogwarts before us, record."

"Ahhh." Ron said in confusion.

"He means we can't find a replacement." Sirius translated. "Because he wants to beat the Slytherin record."

James flushed. "I'm sorry guys! I know I shouldn't- I can try. Maybe my wrist will feel better in a few minutes or something."

Sammi, meanwhile, was staring at Harry. "Hey, you guys! I've….wait no." She shook her head. "It's too crazy."

"What?" James demanded. "Nothing's too crazy _now_!"

Sammi ran a hand through her black hair, frowning as she went over the plan in her head. The others waited impatiently. "Okay, so…Harry, can you fly? At all?"

The others stared at her." Hermione (of course) got it first. "Oh! Harry looks almost exactly like James!"

"Brilliant!" Sirius exclaimed, slapping Harry on the back. "All he has to do is pretend to be James! That is-." He added with a quick glance at Harry, "-if he wants to."

Harry felt the excitement welling in his chest. "Want to? Of course! I was on the Gry-uh-gri…fin, yeah! Griffin quidditch team in my school in Amer- Ire- Ca…nada." he cast a nervous look at Ron who rolled his eyes.

"Wonderful!" Sirius roared shaking Harry's hand enthusiastically. "And prongs old boy, get better soon."

James gave Harry a small smile. "Thanks. It's lucky we look so much alike."

"Yeah." Harry said, feeling suddenly sad as he thought of why. "Yeah."

"Hey!" Sammi exclaimed, hugging Harry in her excitement and grabbed Nina's arm. "What are we waiting for? Let's go!" the 3 quidditch players dashed down the stairs and towards the great hall.

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"Hey James? Since when have you gotten green eyes?" Alec asked after they'd all congratulated him on getting better. Harry shot a quick glance at Sammi.

Sammi bit her lip. "You guys, this isn't James."

Alec jumped back away from Harry in shock and several others gasped.

"I mean, this is Harry who's filling in for James."

"Oh." Tony said in relief. "So you told McGonagall, right? I mean, James hasn't sat out a game, like ever."

The 6th years glanced at each other. "Uhh no."

"Well, we're not allowed to do this than, right?" Laura, a 2nd year, asked, twirling a strand of brown hair between her fingers. Harry looked nervously around at the unfamiliar faces. Sammi was not quite so hesitant. "Do you want Slytherin to win?" she demanded fiercely. They all shook their heads.

"James is too hurt to play and all because of Dinas," Nina said.

"So they cheated by getting rid of our seeker." Sammi continued, "so we'll come right back in their face with another one. Just pretend he's James though." She added with a wink, "Otherwise this could do some serious damage to Potter's ego."

Kevin Rojas, the team captain, was watching with a smile growing on his face. "That's great!" he exclaimed enthusiastically. "Can you fly?"

Harry nodded, compressing the urge to say that he'd once been on a quidditch team.

"Cool." Tony Chen gave Harry James' broom. It was a comet two-sixty. Not too bad for this age in time.

Rojas got the team gathered around. "Okay team, we're starting from-." He paused, calculating. Next to him, Sammi was wincing as she waited for the answer. "-okay, so we're starting from a 130 point difference." The team groaned. "Hey, no problem, let's play hard, and if we lose, we lose with a fight, What else to say, but let's crush 'em!"

They all cheered. Harry grinned, thinking of the difference between Kevin's short pep talks to Wood's long speeches.

"See, that wasn't so bad." Sammi said, appearing by his elbow. "They seemed to like you."

Harry grinned. "Right. And that was a nice speech you had going for you there."

Sammi smiled, closing her eyes. "Thanks. Maybe I should be a lawyer."

A red light flashed by the doorway. "Okay, let's go." Nina said, tugging on their arms. They entered the field to tumulus applause.

"Shake hands." Madam Hooch said, eyeing the captains warily. "Okay, mount your brooms. 3-2-1 go!" The whistle blew and the Gryffindor quidditch team took off. Harry shot into the air, savoring the exhilarating feeling he always felt when he flew.

"And the balls are in play." Sirius' voice boomed out magically around the field. Sammi immediately grabbed the quaffle and took off.

A bludger flew towards Harry. (He was pretty sure that was deliberate.) He deftly cart wheeled under it and swerved to avoid hitting Tony.

"Wow, Har-James sure can fly!"

Harry saw Hermione yell something at Sirius.

"I-I mean, just kidding, of course he can fly. He's been seeker for 5 years!" he laughed. "Oh, boy. Yeah, that was funny. C'mon guys, I had you guys all fooled there, didn't I?"

Harry smiled, imagining Hermione roll her eyes. Sammi streaked by him in a scarlet blur.

"Taglia heading up the field. Come on Sammi! Nice swerve around Bole…hey! He hits her with his club! That yellow spotted cheating mole rat-."Sirius could be very creative when it came to cursing. His words were drowned out by the booing of the Gryffindors. Madame Hooch awarded a penalty.

Sammi, still rubbing her left arm, flew forwards and angrily hurled the quaffle past Macnair's head, narrowly missing it by inches. Harry grinned. He had had no doubts that she hadn't intended to miss. "90-210 Slytherin."

Sammi looped tauntingly around Tara Mclath, who glared at her. Nina scored, 100-210. Then Sammi scored again, 110-210.

"The Gryffendors are really catching up." Sirius said gleefully, the infuriating teasing note obvious in his voice. "Barnes of Slytherin with the quaffle. Nice bludger by Chen, she drops the quaffle, caught by Nina Vasquez. Ouch, bludger by Gherig. She drops the quaffle, and it's caught by Lestrange. Yes! It slips through his fingers to be caught by Laura Farland who er, drops it too. Okay, so Mclath of Slytherin with the quaffle. She loops up the field, Taglia alongside her. Elbow her in the face Sammi! Just kidding Professor, I was just kidding. Mclath speeding towards the Gryffindor goal post. C'mon Kevin-!" but Tara had scored.

The Slytherin side erupted, only to die down as Sammi, not to be outdone, scored again; 120-220.

Nina and Laura scored apiece, 140-220. Then Sammi scored again, 150-220. It was a 70 point game, but then Rojas, after several terrific saves, let in a quaffle. 150-230.

C'mon, Harry thought anxiously…and then he saw it. The tiny golden snitch was hovering just a few feet away from the Gryffindor goal post. He sucked in his breath as his heart leapt, and he urged his room into a steep dice.

Out of the corners of his eyes, he saw Ian Dinas bare his rat-like teeth and speed forward. Harry ducked down so as to fly faster, all the while focusing intently on the snitch. He was so much closer to it than Dinas…and then a bludger came roaring out of nowhere. Harry rolled over a nanosecond before it could mutilate his arm. At least there was no Lockheart around this time.

He'd lost his lead. The 2 seekers were now neck in neck and the snitch was right there! Harry leaned forwards, and then yelped with pain as the Slytherin kicked him right under the kneecap.

"What the hell are you doing?" He yelled, wincing.

Dinas smirked as he reached out for the snitch. Completely throwing all caution to the winds, and exactly how high he was off the ground, Harry swallowed, steadied himself on the handlebar of his rocking broomstick, and jumped recklessly both hands closing over the snitch a split second before Dinas.

"I got it!" he yelled.

"You're falling!" Sirius yelled through the microphone.

He was free falling. Harry closed his eyes and waved his hand wildly above his head. Miraculously, hid hand met wood, and he held on for dear life.

Fortunately, he wasn't falling.

Unfortunately, he'd grabbed onto Dinas's broom.

The Slytherin flared at him out of small narrowed eyes, smiled evilly, and proceeded to push Harry down to the ground, which happened to be about 60 feet away.

"Ahhhhh!" Harry yelled on panic as Ian's fingernails dug into his left hand that was clutching the broom. The other was still holding stubbornly fast to the snitch.

Harry ducked his head, bracing himself.

"Las orejas muy grandios."

"Aurgh!"

Harry cracked open an eyelid to see Ian Dinas clap his hands to his ears, but not before he saw that they were growing to an abnormally big size.

Sammi grinned, stowing away her wand. "Get on your broom!"

Harry smiled nervously as he climbed onto his hovering broomstick a couple of feet away and held up the snitch.

"And Potter catches the snitch!" Sirius roared. "Brilliant! An amazing catch! Gryffindor wins!" his voice faded as he stepped away from the mike and did a sort of victory dance in the podium. It was a perfect end to a very odd game.

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"Great catch James!"

"Yeah! It was real sick jumping off the broomstick like that."

James smiled at the waves of compliments and guiltily looked at Harry. Harry just shrugged. He wasn't going to feel jealous of his dad.

"Butterbeers!" Sirius shouted, dumping an armful on the floor, and winked at Harry. "Fresh from the 3 Broomsticks!" The others, apparently used to his tricks, didn't question where he got them.

The party continued into the night. Sammi soon returned from her meeting with McGonagall for the use of "improper magic" and entertained them all with reports of Dinas with his dumbo ears. Finally, at around 2 AM the Gryffindors, after one more "good job" and "nice catch" to James, headed upstairs. Soon it was just the Marauders and Harry. Ron had fallen asleep and was lying on the floor, and Lily and Hermione were gong over some lessons they were learning, upstairs.

James sighed, rubbing his wrist. "Geez, only 5 more days! From one crisis to the next!"

Sirius laughed and raised an eyebrow behind his long bangs. "Asked her yet Prongs?"

James turned red. "Do you think I'd be sitting here moaning if I had? He sighed. "They're never alone!"

"Tough." Sirius yawned, stretching out on the rug.

Remus tossed a pillow at him. "You asked anyone yet Prongs?"

Sirius paused thoughtfully. "Nah. You know I hate dancing anyway."

Peter grinned. "But all the ladies like you."

Harry looked on in confusion. "Wait, what? What's happening in 5 days?"

James and Sirius looked at each other.

Sirius put a hand on Harry's shoulder and said in a sad, mournful tome, "What's happening, is one of the worst things known to mankind." He paused dramatically. "The Halloween dance."

The others chuckled and Harry sat back. And he'd thought he'd gotten all dancing over with after the Yule Bal! "But, I hardly know anyone here! Only the Gryffindor girls."

James patted him on the back. "No problem. We've had that problem for 5 years, and Remus still hasn't asked anyone out."

"Except for Sarah Bullstrode." Sirius snickered.

"I was 12!" Remus said defensively, glaring at Black.

Sirius waved his hands in a peace gesture. "Well, Peter hasn't gone with anyone yet. And James only went last year with Anna Levania to make Lily jealous. "He snorted. "Didn't work. I think Evans actually called you a womanizer that year."

James glared at him. "Thanks mate. Real encouraging. She should be calling _you_ a womanizer. You've got girls falling at your feet."

Sirius made a face.

"Are you asking anyone this year?" Harry asked curiously.

Sirius pondered, and they all followed his gaze to the girls' dormitory.

"Sammi?" Remus guessed, Harry tensed.

Sirius shook his head. "Nah, we're friends and all, but she's not my type."

James laughed, as he sat up to go to bed. "Yeah, she's too much like you."

Harry glanced back at the girls' dormitory door, and he had a mental image of Sirius and Hermione laughing together yesterday afternoon. What exactly _was_ Sirius' type?

**Ah, sorry it took so long to update. I'd lost my manuscript, and when I found it, I didn't like what I wrote, so I rewrote it, and then I realized I liked my first one better after all and etc. etc...but you know that's just an excuse. Come to think of it, I could've just said My cat ate my manuscript...and it'd be considerably less words to type. So anyways, the point is I got this through. I hope I haven't lost any readers!****By the way, is it Madam or Madame?**

**Serendipity-England-1922:** **Well thank you.**

**sirius black and remy:Gracias!**

**amrawo: ****谢谢！****kewl, I got the chimese thing working**

**Alikat: Did you change your name yet? And I didn't**_**count**_**the words. The computer does it for you.**


	6. suspicion and purple rubber ducks

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of JK's Characters (Sure, that's what they all say)**

Classes began on Monday. Hermione, always the responsible one, had ordered school books and supplies for them all over the weekend. So, clutching their new books and quills, the trio strode into transfiguration. A younger version of Pro McGonagall stood in the front of the classroom, tapping her foot impatiently. Her black hair was tied in a tight knot and she looked just as stern as ever.

"Oh joy." Ron muttered as they hastily ducked under her view. "She's 20 years younger. You'd think she'd loosen up a bit!"

"McGonagall's a bit strict," Nina explained, "but she's fair. Just don't mention anything to do with purple rubber ducks."

"What?" Harry asked.

Sammi grinned. "Don't ask. Something to do with Sirius."

Hermione looked up. "Where is Sirius?"

Sirius and James were nowhere in sight.

Lily rolled her eyes as McGonagall stepped in front of the class." God, I don't think Potter or Black has been on time this whole year yet."

As if right on cue, the 2 in subject dashed in panting through the doors. Pro McGonagall eyed them over her spectacles. "Potter? Black?"

They looked around uncomfortably. "Nice day Professor!" Sirius said, smiling brightly and flashing his white teeth. "Very nice day!"

Next to Harry, Remus chuckled. "Hah, the old Black Charm."

Harry had to agree. Sirius could be competition with Lockheart, though come to think of it, he much preferred Sirius.

"Brilliant day!" Sirius' voice faded.

James, his arm in a sling, tried another tactic. "We're very sorry Professor but－." He paused, abruptly putting his wand behind his back with a look of concentration. Sirius hastily stood in front of him to block him from view.

"What's he doing?" Lily demanded in a whisper.

Harry craned his neck around a tall Ravenclaw and saw James move his wand, a box appearing in his hand. James held it out with a grin. "You see, the _reason_ we were late was because we were getting you a-a gift! Yeah, a gift."

"Chocolate frogs." Sirius said nodding.

James looked at him in alarm as McGonagall picked up the box.

"Is she actually falling for it?" Peter asked breathlessly. His watery eyes were wide.

The Professor smiled a scary smile and tapped the box with her wand. "Chocolate frogs? They seem to be sugar quills to me. A nice bit of transfiguration Mr. Potter, but I suggest you don't try to fool a teacher in the future. Now take a seat. You too Mr. Black, 20 points from Gryffindor."

Sirius and James went to sit down next to Peter and Remus, laughing and nudging each other as they went. They didn't seem at all bothered by the loss of points.

"We will begin by turning our books into paintings and back again." McGonagall then said, facing the class. "This requires much mind control. You have to imagine your painting precisely, wave your wand like so, and say '_bianfuhua_' "

"_Bianfuhua_." The class repeated.

"Good, get to work." The teacher said, clapping her hands.

"Oh god." Ron said to Harry as the room slowly filled with chatter. "Back to school. We just missed our entire summer vacation!"

"How am I supposed to do this?" Peter wailed, tugging dismally on Remus' sleeve. "I have horrible mind control!"

"Yeah, no kidding." Harry muttered darkly.

"It's easy Wormtail." Sirius said. He grinned at James. "Watch the master."

It would've been classic if he'd completely messed up, Hermione thought wryly, but Sirius was too smart for that. He'd turned into an anamagi, hadn't he?

"_Bianfuhua_." Sirius said, flourishing his wand. His book disappeared in a flash of light and was replaced with a colored painting...of a 16-year old Severus Snape wearing a pink frilly dress.

"Nice!" James exclaimed as the others burst out laughing. He shot a quick glance at Lily who, unfortunately, seemed most unamused.

"Why are you always picking on him?" She demanded, slamming her own perfect picture of the Swiss Alps onto her desk.

"Lily, he's a selfish, jealous git." Sirius said calmly.

"And he called you a mudblood the other day." James added. "You can't forget that."

"I didn't." Lily said coldly, flashing her green eyes.

There was an awkward silence in which Lily glared at James, who sat staring uncomfortably at his wand and Sirius tipped his chair back looking bored.

"Well then." Sammi finally said, glancing at her friend. "Then that's settled."

The other Gryffindors, after casting the redhead a worried look, got back to work, unsure exactly who, or what was settled.

Harry and Ron did not achieve anything quite as good a quality as most of the others. Harry's portraits were always rather blurry and bloated, giving the impression of something close to Aunt Marge underwater. Ron's, to his bewilderment, always turned into a picture of a speckled hen no matter what he did.

Hermione, who was talking to Nina, refused to help, so they took comfort in the fact that Peter's book wouldn't even change into anything remotely close to a portrait.

Sirius and James, after waving away the fumes of the firecracker that Peter had accidentally transfigured, were putting the final touches to their paintings: applying Snape with makeup.

"Nice Prongs, like the shading."

"Thanks Padfoot. Think he needs more lipstick?

"Hmmm...Yeah, I think so."

"Okay, how about a nice mulberry shade. _Bianfuhua_."

"Ha, a nice improvement, don't you think?"

"Definitely."

"Uhhh, Prongs? Look behind you."

Lily was coming over looking suspicious. Luckily, it was just at that moment that Pro. McGonagall stood up. "Sit down everyone. Let me see your work.

She walked around the room looking pretty intimidating. "Good Bradley. Very good, Ms Ramirez. Hmmm..."

She moved past the Ravenclaws and on to the Gryffindors. "Very nice, Mr. Lupin, Ms Evans." She said this in a way that sounded as if she were used to saying it often. "10 points for Gryffindor." Lily looked rather smug.

The teacher moved on to Harry and Ron's column. "_Mr. Black, Mr. Potter_, do you think this is supposed to be _funny_?

"Yes." Sirius muttered, stifling a laugh.

"Well we did the work, didn't we Professor." James said cheekily.

McGonagall's mouth thinned. "Yes." She said grudgingly. "5 points from Gryffindor for impudence."

Behind her back, Sirius and James slapped high five.

"Oh my Mr. Pettigrew, we may want to come after school for this. Hmmm...okay, okay, oh this is very good, Ms...Ms...?"

Harry looked up, and grabbed Ron's shoulder. Pro McGonagall was staring at Hermione. "I don't believe I've seen you before." She peered over her spectacles suspiciously.

Hermione gulped and smiled widely, looking flustered. "Oh, hello. I'm an exchange student."

"Really." Was it just Harry's imagination or was McGonagall's voice colder than usual? "I didn't know we had any exchange students this year."

"You didn't?" Hermione asked nervously. "Oh, well that's too bad." Lame! She berated herself. That was really lame! It was probably an excuse Harry would've used. Nearby, Sirius snorted.

Think. Hermione shouted at herself. Use your brains to get yourself out of this mess. But all that came out was "Umm..."

This was perhaps the first time Hermione's mind had failed her. Her wand slipped from her stiff fingers, clattering onto the floor. Thankful for an excuse to turn, she mouthed 'help' as she went down to retrieve it.

Only 4 people responded. Ron's jaw dropped even wider than it had been before. Peter scratched his head, obviously confused. Lily frowned slightly, looking worried. Sirius winked, and slowly pulled out his wand.

Hermione turned back to a stiff looking McGonagall, cringing inside. McGonagall opened her mouth. Suddenly there was a loud pop coming from the Ravenclaw side.

Pro McGonagall whirled around, turning on a boy with thick blonde hair. "_Mr. Reilly_!"

Hermione peered over Lira and saw a surprised looking Reilly clutching...a purple rubber duck. Nina's words came back to her and she whipped her head back around. Sirius was grinning widely as he muttered something to the rest of the Marauders.

Everyone was murmuring by now. Pro McGonagall strode in front of the unfortunate Ravenclaw and snatched the rubber duck from his hands, looking furious. "I have had it with these-these _objects_ appearing in my class. They have been showing up all week...this is obviously the work of some prankster..." She glanced at the Marauders at this. "...so I will ask one last time. _Who_ is doing this?"

No one answered. Hermione saw that Sirius was looking just as confused as the rest. It was him, wasn't it?

After 10 seconds of silence, the bell rang. Many people stood up, but quickly sat back down again as McGonagall's nostrils flared.

"2 essays." She said. "One on the properties of moon dust, the other on the attributes of an animagus. 24 inches each, class dismissed."

Moans and protests filled the classroom as the 6th years began to file out. Hermione fought her way around the desks and nudged Sirius.

He broke his conversation with Remus and turned, smiling at her. "It was you, wasn't it?" She demanded her hands on her hips. "With the rubber duck."

Sirius grinned, putting both hands behind his back. "Who, me?" He asked innocently.

"It was him." Remus confirmed.

"Moony!" Sirius looked pained. "A Marauder never gives another Marauder away."

"I just did." Remus said, smiling. "Anyway, what did you do to poor Peter last week, dumping the blame on him when anyone could tell it was you and James?"

"So it was you." Hermione said frowning, as Sirius put on a mock pout. The classroom was almost empty now.

"Yeah." Sirius shrugged, abandoning his pretense of denial. "Wasn't hard."

"And McGonagall hasn't caught you at all? She was looking straight at you!"

"He's a good actor." Remus put an arm over Sirius' shoulder. "Don't be fooled."

Sirius grin didn't falter, but his eyes weren't so warm. "With my family, you have to be." Hermione thought of the portrait of Sirius' mum at Grimmauld's Place, and suppressed a shudder.

Suddenly both Marauders stopped smiling and looked at something behind her shoulder. Hermione spun around and almost fell onto Pro McGonagall.

"You." She said, nodding at Hermione. "What's your name?"

"My-my name?" Hermione felt cold. Pro McGonagall had _never_ used this tone with her before. She opened her mouth and her mind blanked again.

"She's my cousin, Professor."

Hermione turned to see Sirius who was looking completely innocent. He _was_ good at acting!

"She's an exchange student, like she said. From Canada."

"Really, Mr. Black." Pro McGonagall's voice showed much skepticism. "And your mother would let a Black go astray to Canada?"

Sirius shrugged. "One of Andromeda's." That seemed to sum up everything.

"Oh! Nymphadora Tonks!" McGonagall looked interested now. "I never knew she was this old. It seemed only last year Andromeda sent me a picture of her daughter. She seemed much younger."

"People grow fast in the foreign countries." Sirius said nodding seriously. "It must be the food."

McGonagall opened her mouth, but the bell was already ringing and the next class was trooping in. "Oh, you're going to be late. Hurry up you three. Nice to meet you Nymphadora."

Hermione smiled, Remus waved, and they dashed out the door.

"I am the Master." Sirius said once they were out of earshot.

"_Nymphadora_!" Hermione exclaimed, shaking her head.

"I know, horrid name. Don't know what possessed Andromeda." Sirius smiled wickedly. "But you've got to admit, I'm good."

"You pretended I was a _four_-year old!" Hermione cried, as Remus nudged Sirius' shoulder. "Tonks is 12 years younger than you, genius."

The two boys stopped, and stared at her.

"How do you know that?" Remus asked cautiously.

Hermione swallowed. She was blowing their cover. She was _so_ blowing their cover. Though, maybe they'd already suspected something because McGonagall hadn't believed her stories.

Sirius seemed to read her mind. "Whatever. The point is that you're here...even if you aren't supposed to be." He added. "And we Marauders honor troublemakers."

Hermione took a slow breath, not knowing whether to be relieved or mad. "I'm not at troublemaker."

"Of course not." Sirius said nudging her.

"Troublemakers or not, we're going to be late for Charms." Remus said, tapping his foot impatiently.

"Hermione jumped up, her old habits getting the better of her. "We'd better hurry!"

"A punctual Troublemaker." Sirius said, shaking his head as he and Remus hurried after her.

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"Look at this!" Ron exclaimed, pointing a quivering finger at his stack of homework. "3 inches! I swear, I measured it. 3 inches!"

"Calm down Ron." Hermione said, waving her hand somewhere towards his vicinity as she was nose deep in a textbook."

"She's already half way done!" Ron said, shaking his head. "That's not normal, I tell you."

The others chuckled. The Marauders, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were sitting near the lake in their "free" time struggling through the homework.

"Hey!" Peter exclaimed happily. "I actually managed a summoning charm today! Isn't that awesome?"

"That was required in 4th year." Sirius said, yawning.

Peter glared at him and turned to James for his approval.

"Mm hmm." James muttered distractedly.

Sirius looked up in surprise, then relaxed into a grin. "Ha, dreaming about her again, Prongs?"

Harry glanced up to see that James was staring across the water at the other group of Gryffindor girls. Particularly the one nearest the trees with her red hair glinting in the sunlight.

"Well at least she doesn't hate your guts anymore." Remus offered.

"She did not hate my guts." James said indignantly.

Sirius clapped a hand over James' shoulder and said in a sad, somber tone, "Yes Prongs, she did."

"Get off me Padfoot." James said, shrugging off Sirius' arm with a reluctant grin. He cast an anxious look at Hermione, but she didn't even look up from her writing. He sighed and gazed back out across the river at the setting sun.

"Just ask her." Remus said gently.

"I can't." James moaned, flopping down on the grass. "I'm...I'm afraid...she'll uh, misunderstand, and uh, not agree-"

"You're afraid she'll say no." Hermione said, still writing her essay.

James jumped and glared at her. "She won't say no! How could she say no?"

Sirius snorted, but quickly hid it in a cough.

"You're really popular." Peter said, nodding.

But was James popular for the right person?

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"So you guys got dates yet?" Nina said that night in the common room.

"No." Ron stabbed his transfiguration essay viciously with his quill.

Lira sighed, tossing back her thick hair. "I wish I could go with-."

At that moment, a tall muscular boy with shining blonde hair and celery green eyes walked past. All of the girls immediately burst into giggles.

"With him." Lira finished before collapsing into a fit of laughter.

Sirius scowled and James dropped his head into his hands.

"Who was that?" Harry asked curiously as the boy set another group of Hufflepuff girls into hysterics.

"That was Pretty-boy Derek." Sirius muttered. "The most stupid, clueless-"

"_Sirius_!" Lira said, glaring at him. She turned to Harry. "That was Derek **(I'm tempted to say Jeter, but I won't)**Damon**(XD)**from Ravenclaw." She looked slightly flushed.

"Derek Damon." Ron repeated. "What's up with him?"

"He's only the cutest boy in 6th year." Lily sighed, sinking onto the pillows. "Not to mention that he's really smart-."

""I'm smart." James interrupted, looking slightly alarmed. "And athletic. Besides, he won't go with you. He only goes after blonds."

"What do you mean, _go after_?" Lily demanded, her dreamy expression instantly replaced by one of annoyance that she seemed to reserve especially for James.

"You know," James shrugged. "It's obvious he's chasing after those girls."

"And you don't?" Sammi muttered.

"How do you know he only goes after blonds?" Nina asked.

"Allie Byrnes." Sirius said, counting on his fingers. "Kelly Papa. Tory Hunter. Jass McCauley. Geez, he's got a whole horde of blond girls behind him."

"Lira there has a chance." James said, nodding at Lira who twirled a finger self-consciously through her corn silk hair. "But I'm sorry Lily. It looks like you'll just have to find someone else."

"Shut up Potter." Lily snarled, getting up to sit behind the couch, away from James.

"Just some advice." James said, looking satisfied.

Lira looked around, being the only blond among them. (Okay, Petey doesn't count.) "Well, Nina's hair is pretty light. And Sammi...yeah."

Sammi tugged at her own black hair, scowling. "This is a really stupid conversation."

"James started it." Lily's voice came from behind the couch.

"And I'm finishing it." James stood up and stretching. "Good night. Think on my advice, Lily."

"Stupid bighead," Lily muttered as he went up the stairs.

"I'm going to bed too." Sammi said, standing up with Nina. _Four_ more days until the dance." She gave a little skip and headed up to the girl's dormitories.

Four days. Harry thought with a sinking feeling. Oh boy.

**Finally! Whew, that took a long time to finish, but hey! 8 projects and 5 tests and 3 performances in 3 weeks? Ugh, I hate end of terms. But Chapter...6 is finally done. I did add a new character who**_**will**_**be part of the plot. Mua ha ha. Thank you for bearing with me for the (is it an entire month?) that I didn't update. And gracias for all the reviews!**

**sirius black and remy: Oh, maybe he is. But he's going to have a hard time with it. I'm so mean...**

**Serendipity-England-1922 Happy new years to you too, but it's a little too late now...Happy Chinese New Years!**

**Lady Avari: Here's Chapter 6. Sorry it took so long.**

**Never Odd Or eveN: Thank You. I can't wait either.**

**SH: I hope you continue liking it.**

**hermionegranger2007:** **Phew, I'm glad you think so.**

**Flame of Night: Yes, you're probably right about the pairings, but like I said, the point of an evil author is to make things hard for the characters. cue evil laugh Nice name.**

**And the one and only Alikat: Confusing, yes, but understandable. I do too have a cat. He, uh, lives...in my sock drawer. Yeah.**


	7. Woe is me: so melodramatic!

**A/N: Quickly, Sorry to my readers for taking so long to update.**

It was a rainy, gloomy Tuesday morning. Harry walked to Herbology with James who seemed to be deep in thought.

"Harry?" He asked suddenly. "How come Lily doesn't like me?"

Harry blinked, stopping short. How was he supposed to answer _that_? "Umm, I dunno." He shrugged uncomfortably. "Why don't you ask her?"

James snorted. "I don't think so. I mean anything short of dragging her in a broom closet and forcing a love potion down her throat, I don't know what to do."

Harry continued walking, contemplating what to say. It wasn't like he'd had had much luck with girls. The Cho incident had been a fiasco. "Um, I think you should be nicer to her. I mean-." He added hastily as James opened his mouth looking hurt, "You should stop trying to impress her and just be yourself. Try, uh, not being so obvious." He sounded like Oprah.

James looked thoughtful. "You think I should do that? Like compliment her and that?"

"Um, sure." Harry sighed. "She thinks you're sort of a bighead."

"She told you that?" James suddenly looked wary.

"No. Herm-No!" Harry said hastily, guessing what James had assumed. "Hermione told me."

"Oh." James paused, and then attempted a smile. "You know, you and Hermione…you'd make a cute couple. You know, for the dance."

Harry smiled back weakly. "Um thanks, but I have, uh, someone else in mind."

James laughed. "Wow, you've only been here a few days! Who is it, Nina?"

Harry shook his head. "Uh, no." It was at that moment the painting behind them shouted, "You're late for class."

Harry sped up. "C'mon, we'd better go."

The two dashed down to Herbology.

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"Nice hair Lily."

Lily looked up in surprise to see the infuriating Potter looking at her. "What's so special about it?" She demanded. "I'm wearing it the same way I always do."

"It's just nice." Lily tilted her head to see if he was joking, but he just smiled slightly and went back to talking to Black.

Lily opened her mouth and then closed it. What was up with _him_? Why wasn't he launching into one of his stupid quidditch stories that only Pettigrew ever listened to, or staring at her with annoying lovesick eyes? She wasn't used to this type of subtleness from him.

Shaking her head, Lily turned back to Lira and Hermione who sat with her doing their increasing piles of homework. Lira winked at her before opening her spell book. She seemed to find this whole James fiasco funny! Hermione however, was staring at Potter, Black and Lupin. It was obvious she was dreaming about one of them.

Lily leaned over. "Who is it? Remus?"

Hermione jumped like she'd sat on a porcupine and dropped her quill. She stooped to pick it up, her face red. "Wha-what? I, no! I mean-." She looked at Lily helplessly.

Lily shrugged. "Hey, don't worry. Remus is okay."

Hermione smile weakly. "Uh, thanks Lily, but I don't-oh never mind."

Lily leaned back, smiling wickedly. "So who do you think'll pair up? You know, for the dance."

Hermione shrugged. Lira looked around. "Hmm, I'd say 'mione's either with Remus or Harry."

Hermione shook her head, but she didn't say anything.

"And I'm not sure about Wesley. Petey's gonna have problems."

"That's true." Hermione said hastily turning the conversation away from her. "I think Nina'll pair up okay with Remus."

"Yeah, and Sammi and Black'll make a cute couple." Lira continued.

Hermione felt her heart freeze for some weird reason. She took a couple of deep breaths.

Lily snorted. "Cute? They'll be mauling everyone on the dance floor."

Lira smiled. "I bet Potter'll do better than _them_."

Lily sighed. "I just wish he'll stop chasing me. It's annoying."

"Tough." Lira agreed. "He's so hot though. And he's the best quidditch star in our year."

"Why don't _you_ go with him?" Lily demanded.

Lira shook her head and tapped her chest. "My heart's reserved for Derek Damon."

"He was looking at you in Transfiguration." Lily said.

"Really?" Lira squealed. They began to talk furiously. Hermione sighed and buried her head into her hands.

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Harry and Ron sank into the chairs of the Gryffindor table at lunch and quickly loaded their plates.

"I'm starved!" Ron said thickly through a mouthful of beef pot pie.

Harry nodded. "And we thought we had it bad in our time." He stopped, looking around to make sure that no one had heard. "Sorry." He added in a lower voice.

Ron shrugged, looking up and waved. "Hey Hermione!"

"Hey you guys." Hermione sank into the seat next to Harry. "I was going to sit down but…" She stopped as she glanced across the table at where Sirius and Sammi were busy throwing grapes at each other.

She immediately pulled a plate of scallops over to her and began shoveling them into her mouth.

Harry and Ron took one look at her and groaned.

"More SPEW?" Ron demanded, looking rather green. "Hermione! Hasn't Kreacher or Dobby taught you anything?"

"I really don't think we have time-." Harry began.

"It's not that." Hermione mumbled through her food. "And it's S-P-E-W, Ron."

"Hermione!" Ron looked slightly alarmed. "What are you doing then? More liberation rights for what, the walking suits of armor?"

Harry quickly changed a laugh into a cough.

Hermione chose to ignore him and stood up. "Well, I'm off to the library. I think I'm the only one around here willing to do something about this mess."

"What mess?" Harry asked Ron in bewilderment. "What's she talking about?"

Ron shrugged, helping himself to a treacle tart. "Must be the time of month."

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After lunch, Lily departed for potions while the rest of them had free time-er, homework time.

"You think I'm doing all right?" James asked anxiously as Harry and Ron sat down at the Marauders' table.

"Yeah sure." Harry said grinning. "I think she's reconsidering."

The talk sank into homework topics…for about a minute. Presently it sank back into, of course, speculations on the dance.

"We're a sorry bunch. " Sirius said, leaning back. "No dates at all." He didn't seem particularly worried.

"I've got Lily though." James said quickly as if anyone else would try to steal her.

"You should ask her quickly. " Remus said from behind his book. "Before Derek Damon-."

"Oh gods!" Sirius and James said at the same time and made the sign against evil across their chest.

"I'm serious." Remus said, struggling not to give in to laughter like the others.

"I know." James became solemn again. "I'll ask her today."

The others stared. It was obvious they hadn't thought he would actually do anything to promote his relationship with Lily.

"What?" James asked in annoyance. "All I have to do is go up to her and ask her."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Sure. Just don't blame us if she decides to decapitate you."

James looked slightly alarmed.

Remus pushed Sirius and twisted around to face James. "Ask her Prongs."

"Go for it." Harry encouraged.

James took several deep breaths. "You really think so?"

"No, we just said you should but we didn't mean it." Sirius said sarcastically. He was instantly jabbed in the ribs by Remus.

Antsy with nerves, James stood up and decided to go for a walk.

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It was late afternoon. Sirius and Harry sat together by the fire, neither saying a word. Harry sneaked a look at his future godfather. Sirius looked much like he did in the scene Harry had seen in the pensieve. He was still thin, with longish casual looking black hair. Harry could never get over how different the eyes were from the ones he was so used to seeing, the ones that always held a dead look in them.

Sirius caught him looking and winked. At that moment, James came bounding in looking ecstatic. He grabbed Sirius' arm, pulling him roughly to his feet.

"I asked her!"

"Asked who?" Sirius rubbed his ear.

"Lily!" James danced around before collapsing into an armchair.

"I take it she said yes?" Harry asked, feeling genuinely happy.

James hesitated. "Well no….but she said maybe!"

The other two stared at him. Sirius rolled his eyes. "Well I guess that's better than no."

"It sure is. " James said enthusiastically, well unaware of the sarcasm in his friends' words.

Harry looked at him uncomfortably. "Well you do know that means she can say no later."

James sat up abruptly, looking wild eyed having not thought of this, and then sank back into his chair and waved his hand in dismissal. "There's only 3 days left. She won't have time to dump me and find another guy."

"Sure." Sirius said.

James looked thoughtful as he tapped his fingers against his thigh. "And neither of you can say Lily'll get picked up by Derek Damon if she does dump me because I just heard he's asked someone today."

There came a gasp among the eavesdropping girls.

Harry laughed with relief. "Hey, now we won't have to deal with any more swooning girls."

"Just break the news to Lira slowly." Sirius said grinning. "I give her 3 seconds before she faints."

"Nah, 2." Harry said and they all laughed. "Hey James, do you know who Derek asked"

"Nope." James made a disgusted face. "Probably some wide eyed blonde hanging onto his every word. Anyway, _you_ guys have to get going or all the good ones will be gone."

Harry bit his lip. His dad was right. He had to stop stalling. If he didn't ask Sammi soon, somebody else will. He sat up and scanned the room in vain.

"What's up?" Sirius asked.

"Where's Sammi?" Harry asked, then noticing the raised eyebrows, quickly added, "I want to you know, talk to her about quidditch."

"Sure." James smirked. "Anyway, the master's here." He pointed at himself before scanning the room. "Nah, Taglia's not here. Maybe she'll come later."

Harry nodded and quickly sat back, not at all anxious to promote his feelings. "Soo…um, did you guys start the Mistletook essay yet?"

He was met with groans.

James shook his head. "Harry-." He stopped. "Hey look, Sammi just came in."

Harry's head snapped up. Sure enough, the familiar short figure was standing by the portrait hole. She looked out of breath and confused.

Harry stood up. "Wait a minute guys." He slowly walked towards her feeling as if he were in a dream. Sammi 's cheeks were flushed, and her grey eyes glowed. She caught sight of Harry and something flickered in her face.

"Er, hi Sammi." Harry began.

"Hey." Sammi smiled at him in a way that sent shivers up his back.

How was he supposed to do this? Harry opened his mouth. "Sammi, will you-."

"Hey Sammi!"

They both turned around to see Nina coming over with a very dejected Lira in tow. "Did you hear? Derek Damon's asked someone out today!"

Lira scowled. "Wonder who it is. No one knows." She sighed longingly.

Sammi bit her lip. "I know."

Lira, Nina and Harry all stared at her. "What?"

"I know who he asked."

"Who?" Lira demanded. "Tell me!"

Sammi took a deep breath. "Me. Derek Damon asked me to the dance...and I said yes."

**Mua ha ha. I'm soooo mean to Harry. Ah well, no one said life was fair. Thanks to all my readers who stuck with me. Many apologies for this 2 long intermission, but I was writing another story, and then the fanfiction server woldn'tlet me upload. Don't worry, I'll continue this one if people like it.**

**More HG/SB to come, don't worry!**

**Thanks again for all the wonderful people who reviewed.**


	8. The Book is Back!

Harry walked down the corridor with hunched shoulders and weighed down by a mixture of guilt, anger, and depression. As soon as Sammi had said those words last night, he knew. He so knew. Stupid. Derek. Damon. He kicked the bottom of the wall with each thought and had to add a stubbed toe to his list of miseries. It was Wednesday afternoon and less than 2 days left before the dance. Frankly he didn't care.

"….they won. It was incredible."

Harry turned the corner and almost walked into the backs of Derek and Sammi. They were standing in the middle of the hall way seemingly completely into each other. Derek seemed to be talking about quidditch, and Sammi laughed at whatever he said. Harry turned and dashed the other way. He still couldn't face either of them without feeling like an idiot. He was so _stupid_! Why hadn't he sucked up his courage and asked Sammi sooner?

Breathing hard, Harry walked randomly down various hallways immersed in his own thoughts.

"Harry!"

Harry whirled around to see Hermione running towards him, her brown hair flying behind her. Harry nodded at her, and then had a sudden brief mental image of a gorgeous-looking Hermione walking with him down the stairs of the Great Hall, and a jealous Derek staring at them while Sammi looked wistful. This image was very agreeable. Harry opened his mouth.

"Shhh." Hermione's face practically glowed. "I have the perfect solution."

"So do I." Harry said feeling surprised. "Why don't you go with m-."Hermione waved her hand at him. "Wait, look at what _I _found in the library!"

She whipped her hand from behind her back and produced a dark, moldy-looking book. Harry glanced at it. "Oh Hermione. More light reading? You know I-."

He stopped, taking a second, longer look at the book. "You didn't."

Hermione beamed. "I did. This just shows you what a good night spent in the library can do."

It was the book that had brought them back into time. It looked almost exactly the same.

Harry snapped his fingers. "So that's what you were doing yesterday, running away from Ron and me like that."

Hermione shrugged. 'Sorry, but someone has to do this. Otherwise we'll be stuck here forever."

Harry shivered at the possibility. "I'm never going to play with bringing up the dead books again."

They laughed, walking towards Gryffindor Tower together. Harry smiled. Ever since going back in time, he'd felt strangely separated from his two friends, especially Hermione. It felt good to be talking with her like in the old times.

"This is great." Hermione was saying. "We can get Ron and maybe figure out how to get out of this place tonight!"

Harry froze in the act of climbing in the doorway. "Wait…tonight? But Hermione, I can't!"

Hermione frowned. "Why not?"

Harry stopped. "I don't know, it's just that-." This was the only chance in his entire life that he could spend time with a bunch of people that he'd never see again in the real world. His parents, and Sirius, and Sam-no, maybe not Sammi. He forced himself to stop thinking about her.

Hermione looked at him oddly. "Why not?" She repeated.

Harry swallowed. He didn't want to sound too selfish. "It's nothing. Maybe we can talk about this with Ron inside?"

Hermione nodded, patting him gently on the back. "Sure."

They were immediately met with loud noise and applause in the Common Room. The Sixth year boys were busily congratulating Remus, and the girls seemed to be doing the same thing at the other end of the room.

"What's up?" Harry asked peering around.

"Remus got a date!" James roared. "Who would've thunk it?"

"Who?" Hermione asked.

"Nina." Sirius said looking amused from his position on the couch. "I suppose it's possible…."

"What's that supposed to mean" Remus demanded jokingly. His usual pale face was flushed and excited.

Hermione glanced at Sirius then quickly looked away with a slightly pained expression. Harry caught the look with some surprise. Sirius noticed it too. He raised his hand. "Hey Hermione!"

Hermione didn't turn. "I'll be putting this upstairs." She whispered to Harry, tapping the magical book hidden under her robes. She began making her way through the crowds of kids.

"Hey 'mione!" Lira grabbed her arm.

Hermione smiled slightly. "Er, hey Lira. What's happening?"

Lira shrugged. "Nothing much. Just less than two days left, and only three pairs have any dates in Gryffindor."

"_3 _pairs?" Hermione looked faint. "So um, it's Remus and Nina obviously."

Lira nodded.

Hermione paused.

"James and …"Lira prompted.

Hermione stared at her. "Wait, James actually asked Lily? And she said yes?"

Lira flicked her over the ear. "Well yah. Earth to Hermione! You could see it building up for ages!"

And they are getting together for life. Hermione thought. I happen to know that for a fact. "So who else?" She asked casually. "Is Sammi going with anyone?"

Lira nodded.

Hermione gulped, her head going over to where Sirius was lying, despite herself. There it was, that piece of news she'd been dreading to hear ever since yesterday.

"She's going with Derek Damon. Can you believe that?" Lira demanded in a fierce whisper. She looked mad. "Sammi's the last person you'd think he'd choose!"

"Derek Damon?" Hermione said faintly. "Are you serious?"

"It's been the top news since yesterday night." Lira said enviously. "Where have you been?"

Hermione shrugged, a smile starting play around the corners of her mouth. All she felt was an overwhelming feeling of relief. "Just you know, searching for something in the library." She stood up. "Okay, got to go upstairs. See you."

Lira shook her head. "Okay, whatever."

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Ron sat between Lily and Hermione. He did this every night as it was equivalent to sitting next to two talking encyclopedias. Encyclopedias that could slap you hand away with surprising toughness.

"How can you write an entire essay on a moon rock?" Ron demanded, looking at his own 2-sentence essay.

"Magical properties." Lily said, scribbling down a few lines in her already 3 page essay. "Just talk about the magical properties."

Ron looked blank. "Um, magical properties? It…I have no idea."

Hermione sighed, rubbing her eyes. "I don't know Ron. I basically wrote that herbology essay for you."

"I can't believe your working so hard." Ron glanced at Lily to see that she hadn't heard anything and looked back at Hermione. "Sorry, I-Hermione?"

Hermione wasn't reading or writing at all. Unusual. Instead, she was gazing out at the group of Gryffindors a few feet away. Sirius was standing up, apparently offering to set up blind dates.

Ron jumped up, moon rock essay immediately forgotten. "Oy! Sirius!"

Hermione rolled her eyes. She looked to see where Ron was gesturing frantically to an amused looking Sirius. If Sirius was handing out blind dates…didn't that mean he already had one?

"Anyone else?" Sirius asked. "Going once, going-."

"Whatever." Lira walked over looking slightly embarrassed. "As Derek's already _asked_ someone, I'll join."

Sammi flushed. "Well I'm _sorry_ Lira." She'd been quiet the entire day and seemed to be spending most of her energy avoiding Lira who wasn't speaking to her.

"All's good." Sirius said cheerfully. "So we have Peter, Ron, Lira, some random 5th year girls…anyone else? Harry?"

Harry hesitated, and then shook his head. He needed a date, yes, but he still wanted a _certain_ someone. Turning his head slightly, he stole a glance at Sammi. She was curled upon one of the armchairs, chewing on the tip of a strand of her hair. She gazed into the fireplace with a far-away look in her grey eyes.

Harry shook his head to clear it. She was dating the most popular guy in school now, way out of his league. He had to forget her. But he couldn't. Harry stabbed his essay viciously with a quill. The worst thing about this was that this was entirely his fault.

Hermione glanced worriedly at Sirius. If he asked her whether she wanted a blind date, that would mean he wasn't going to ask her. She waited.

He didn't however. He didn't say anything.

Why am I so distracted over him? Hermione thought abstractly. Why do I feel relieved every time I find out he's still free?

She sat up abruptly, her arithmancy book dropping on the floor with a loud thud. Wait a minute….did she have a crush on _Sirius_? No way!

Sirius leaned over to pick up her book and handed it over with a wink.

There it was-that flutter in her stomach; the pounding in her heart.

I can't! Hermione thought frantically. This is Sirius. _Sirius_ _Black_! Harry's godfather! The guy that I thought was an insane killer for 6/7th of my life! In my time, he's around my dad's age!

But you're not in your own time, a voice in her head reassured. Right now he's your own age.

Hermione looked down and hastily scribbled a few last lines on her herbology essay as Sirius looked in her direction. Yes, that feeling was definitely there. This would get interesting.

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"My god!" Ron hissed for the hundredth time that night.

Harry and Hermione both simultaneously twisted their head towards the stairs to make sure no one was eavesdropping over their midnight meeting.

"Shut." Hermione snapped.

They all turned back to the innocent (ok, maybe not so innocent) looking book that had brought all this upon them.

"You think this can get us back?" Harry whispered.

Hermione nodded. "We can try, but remember. If we get home, we probably can't get back here ever again because the whole thing was a fluke in the first place."

They stared at the book some more.

"We can't get back here ever again." Harry repeated. He rubbed his eyes behind his glasses. This all seemed too drastic to think upon right now.

"The thing is…do we want to leave before the dance." Ron said. "Any of you have dates?"

"You think?" Harry snapped to his friend's bewilderment.

"Not yet-I mean, I don't know." Hermione was blushing for some reason.

Ron eyed her closely.

"I mean, I'm not _too_ sure if I want to leave with all the hype going on right now." Hermione said hastily. "We'll need a cover story, and even so, our leaving might cause a disturbance for the others. We wouldn't want that."

The others were quiet.

Then to Hermione's relief, Harry backed her up. "Yeah, you know what? I don't want to leave right away. There are still people I want to talk to…for the last time."

No one needed to say what he meant.

"So I think we should decide after the dance?" Harry glanced anxiously at the others.

Hermione nodded and Ron shrugged.

"Sure, whatever. After the dance."

**There you go. Harry's mad and Hermione realizes her true feelings for Sirius. sigh and Ron's just there. Okay, so tensions are building up, and who will go with whom? (My comp added that. I really don't know when to use "whom".) Will the right people and up with the right people? Review please!**

**Yay! Reviews!**

**Serendipity-England-1922: You stayed with me! I might update very soon cuz I've already got a plan...though the action comes in chap 9.**

**Hotkat144: Yeah, I feel sorry for Harry too, but this isn't the end!**

**The Future Mrs. Thomas Andr...: yeah, hmmm...nah, well...you'll have to keep reading for the pairings.**

**Addicted2Love: Thanks. Don't worry; this isn't the end between Derek and Harry.**

**Arokat: Yeah. Thanks. Chris Vogen was done with his rough draft before I finished my first sentence!**


	9. Will you, um, you know, go with, uh, me?

The Book. That was all Harry could think about that last day before the dance. This was possibly one of the last days he had left to spend with people he'd never _ever_ see again. Harry gained control of it by hanging out with the other Gryffindors as much as he could, relishing every moment. He talked quidditch with James, did homework with Lily and Remus. He joked with Sirius and teased Nina and Lira. In fact, the only people he really tried to avoid were Peter and Sammi.

"You think Harry 's doing all right?" Ron asked Hermione quietly after lunch. "I mean, having to leave his parents again, after all."

Hermione glanced up to watch Harry deep in an earnest conversation with James and Lily. "Yeah, I think he is. He's fortifying himself for the possible separation."

"You make him sound like a wall." Ron sniggered. He leaned back to look at Hermione from under his eyelids. "So, who're you going with to the dance?"

Hermione flushed. "NO, Ron. I'm not going with anyone."

Ron groaned. "C'mon Hermione! We're not going through that again after the Yule Ball!"

Hermione glared at him. "I see you've signed up for blind dates."

Ron shrugged. "I see you haven't."

Hermione stood up rather hastily. "I'm telling you, it's no one."

At that moment Lira came running over, her golden hair flying behind her. "Hey you guys, anyone here getting blind dates from Sirius?"

Ron glanced worriedly at Hermione as he raised his hand. "Uh, me actually."

Lira nodded, getting her breath back. "Right, I just heard from some one that getting blind dates from Black probably would not be very smart." She lowered her voice. "You know what he's done before?"

"No." Ron said looking confused.

"You know with his connections, he knows about everyone in the school. He could set you up with some troll-like Slytherin …or some Hufflepuff who doesn't know the first thing about dancing." She shuddered visibly. "Well. Just to warn you. Keep you're deal with Black if it's the last possible choice." She waved before heading towards a group of 5th year girls.

"A troll!" Ron exclaimed. "Geez, I wouldn't be surprised if he paired me up with one of those!"

"He wouldn't Ron!" Hermione said loyally.

Ron didn't look convinced. "Hey, how's Lira, do you think?"

Hermione looked confused. "How is she? I don't know, good I guess-."

"No!" Ron interrupted impatiently. "I mean _how_ is she?"

Hermione stared at him. Was he serious? Him and…_Lira_? "Umm….no comment, I think."

Ron glared at her. "Think she's too good for me, eh?"

"No!" Hermione exclaimed quickly. "I suppose her nose _is_ straight. Ask her if you want. I'm not stopping you."

Ron glanced at her. She stuck her chin out and smiled at him. She thought he'd chicken out. "I think I will."

Hermione looked mildly surprised. "Well good then. You'd better hurry up." She looked slightly tense. Ron frowned. What was going on with 'Mione?

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By evening, it was evident of the event the next day. Those who didn't have dates frantically tried to find one. Girls flirted outrageously in the halls, tossing their hair and batting their eyelashes. Sammi practically had to have a bodyguard for those still bitter about her and Derek.

It was in the Common Room that Harry found himself being mauled by a tall gangly kid with red hair.

"You're choking me." Harry spluttered.

Ron quickly let go. "Whoops, sorry Harry." He waited politely for a few minutes for Harry to catch his breath before continuing enthusiastically. "Guess what?"

"What?" Harry croaked, scanning the common room. He'd had to hide somewhere if Sammi were coming. He still didn't have the courage to face her, or himself.

"I got a date!"

At this, Harry's head snapped up. "You _what_?"

"Don't be thick Harry." Ron was practically dancing with excitement. "I. Got. A. Date."

"I know I know. I heard." Harry waved his hand in front of his face. "You-who is it?"

"Lira!" Ron turned around in a 360 degree circle before finding the blonde chatting with some 7th year. "Yo!"

Lira looked up, and waved rather weakly in Harry's opinion. "Uh, that's great Ron." His words sounded hollow even to himself.

Ron didn't notice. 'I know." He stopped. "Wait, what about you mate?"

Harry shrugged. "No one."

Ron looked shocked. Probably because for the first time in his life, he had a girl when the famous Harry Potter didn't. "Well you've got to find one, mate! The dance is tomorrow!"

Harry shrugged again, feeling sick. "Yeah, well maybe I'm going stag." Hah, he'd made a joke.

"Mmm." Ron pulled Harry behind a large sofa. "C'mon, you can't spend the entire time hanging out with you parents or Sirius! You should have some fun!"

Harry shook his head, but suddenly thought of something. "Wait! Sirius isn't going with anyone yet either, I don't think."

Ron stared at him "You're not thinking-?"

Harry glanced at him. "Hmm? Oh….Ron! Shut up! I was saying we could both go stag." He could almost imagine it now. Sirius leaning against the counter, making jokes about the poor people struggling on the dance floor.

Ron started to stand, and then just as quickly dived down. "Sorry to kill you're idea mate, but look."

Harry raised his eyebrow at Ron who was lying flat on the floor, before raising his head. Hermione and Sirius were almost directly across from them on the opposite sofa.

"Can you believe it?" Ron hissed as Harry sat back down. "You think they're hooking up?"

Despite his instincts, Harry peeped back around the chair. Hermione was holding a quill, totally unaware that she was dripping ink on her completed moon rock essay as she laughed at something Sirius said.

Feeling slightly uncomfortable, Harry sat back. "Looks like it, doesn't it?"

Ron snorted. "Looks like it? Have you seen a time yet when they aren't together?"

"So?" A voice asked. Sammi sat down between them, crossing her legs.

Harry felt his heart beat faster as he fought his instincts to move away. This was the closest she'd been since Derek Damon asked her out.

"So?" Sammi repeated, looking inquiringly at Ron. "What's wrong with that?"

"What's wrong?" Ron sputtered for a minute, and then stopped, evidently not coming up with a suitable reason. All he'd succeeded in was turning himself purple.

"I think it's awesome." Sammi continued. "You have no idea how many times we've had to put up with girls who've had their hearts broken by Sirius Black. About time Sirius has found a girl who could keep up with him."

Ron snorted. "_Hermione_?"

Sammi shrugged, glancing back at the couple. Sirius was looking at Hermione as she talked about something. So Black was actually quiet for once. More brownie points for Granger. "Yeah."

Ron stood up looking indignant. "That's it. See ya Harry. I have to finish that stupid moon rock essay." He stomped off, looking around for Lily.

"You think Sirius asked her to the dance yet?" Sammi asked quietly when the two were alone. She didn't look at him.

"Uh, I don't think so. Not, uh, not yet." Harry clenched his fists. What was up with him? He was trembling slightly and cold sweat dripped into his eyes. He shook them away for the sake on simply doing something.

"Mmmm." Sammi looked up then. Her eyes were the stormy grey Harry had grown to look forward to. It was now or never. He didn't think he'd ever forgive himself if by chance they left, to have not made up with her.

"Listen Sammi. I uh-."

Sammi cocked her head as she waited for him to finish. She wasn't going to say anything.

Harry tried again. "I uh. Um." This wasn't working. "Oh what the hell." Harry bit his lip. "The point is I miss hanging out with you, Sammi." He flinched slightly as he waited for her to respond.

Sammi took her time. She studied him for a minute before nodding. "I do too."

"Really?" Harry asked in relief. He'd half gotten the idea she's stopped liking him, even in the friend way.

"Yeah." A smile grew on Sammi's face. "That was really stupid, just blurting out that Derek had asked me out in front of the whole common room. You started avoiding me after that, so I'm guessing that had something to do with it."

Harry nodded. Not that she knew exactly why. "So, uh, friends again?" It sounded corny.

Sammi smiled and to his surprise, squeezed his hand. "Sure, friends again."

Now would've been the perfect time to make his move. Could people go back on dates? Harry glanced at Sammi.

Sammi brought the subject up first. "You going with anyone? To the dance I mean."

Harry shook his head.

Sammi looked surprised. "Really! I just thought-never mind."

"No, what?" Harry asked quickly. Was she going to….?

She wasn't. Sammi smiled and stood up. "Well, Derek and I'll see you at the dance."

Harry nodded numbly. "Sure. See you."

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Hermione smiled to herself. She could hear muttering as Harry and Sammi conferred behind the huge sofa across from her and Sirius. A moment later, Sammi emerged looking slightly pink in the face. Hermione sat back feeling satisfied. So Harry had stopped his silent treatment with her. _Finally_. She glanced sideways at Sirius who looked up to smile at her. He was so sweet…but he still hadn't asked her to the dance yet.

That's so lame, her brain screamed. You're expecting him to do something you probably wouldn't have the guts to do yourself.

Oh yeah? Hermione thought fiercely. She sat up to turn towards Sirius. His hair was falling into his eyes, giving him a look that was both unkempt and stylish. Blushing a little, Hermione opened her mouth….and then closed it again. She couldn't do it. This was beyond her. If Sirius went with someone else to the dance tomorrow, it would be entirely her fault.

Hermione sat back, feeling her breathing accelerate. Rocks seemed to weigh in her chest. She hated hypocrites and wimps, but her lips wouldn't open. Her throat remained closed. Why couldn't she ask a simple question she could probably ask any other boy?

Because Sirius wasn't just any other boy. Viktor was nice, but he wasn't Sirius. Sirius was…different. Something like the Weasley twins, Krum, Harry, and even a bit of Ron mixed into one. Someone like that couldn't be treated lightly.

Next to her, Sirius stirred. He'd been silent for quite a while, each of them immersed in their own thoughts. He was looking slightly shy now; something Hermione had thought wasn't possible with him.

"Hey Hermione." He said slowly as if weighing each word on his tongue, "You going to the dance with anyone?"

A startled gasp escaped Hermione's lips. She was really caught off-guard with that one. "yes- I mean No! No, I'm not!" Her stomach tightened. Come on…come on…

Sirius paused, twisting his hands in his lap. Then with a quick shake of his head, said, "Well, do you uh, want to go with me?"

Hermione couldn't help it. She was so relieved. An enormous smile spread over her face. Sirius looked at her warily as if she might laugh at him.

Hermione controlled herself. "That'd be nice."

Sirius laughed then, looking relieved himself. He took her hand. "Yeah, it would be."

**Yay! Sirius **_**finally **_**sucked up his courage. Now everyone has a date…except Harry. Don't worry though….stay tuned to see what happens.**

**As a Recap- (Lily, James) (Remus, Nina) (Ron, Lira) (Hermione, Sirius) (Sammi, Derek) (Peter, Blind date) (Harry?) There you have it, the starting lineup for chapter 10!**

**Now Review!**

**Thank You to all my reviewers!**


	10. Sammi's robes and Harry's nightmare

Hermione woke to a grey and rainy Friday morning. Nevertheless she felt a shiver of excitement go up her spine. It was the day of the dance.

Outside the curtains of her bed, Hermione found total chaos. Lily was in a battle with her long wavy hair as she tried to comb it smooth and read from her charms textbook at the same time as lecturing Sammi about something. Sammi didn't seem to be listening as she was busy bobbing her head to music blaring from an ancient looking radio from muggle studies and trying to finish up on an essay for herbology.

Nina sat cross-legged on her bed experimenting with her hair while she shouted at Lira over the noise of Sammi's radio, and Lira was shouting back while rummaging through a bag of makeup.

"It's crazy in here." Hermione said, sitting down next to Nina.

"Nah, this is normal," Nina said, feeling around the table next to her for some bobby pins.

Hermione handed her some.

"Thanks," Nina said. "Actually, this room would be a whole lot quieter without Sammi's uh, radio." She glared at the offending object. Sammi looked over and winked.

Hermione laughed as she reached over for Lira's schedule to see what classes they had.

"Oh, that's the wrong one." Lira took the schedule back. "We have a special schedule for today's dance. I think its charms, herbology, and...history of magic, am I right Nina?"

"Hmmm?" Nina glanced down at the schedule. "Oh, I think its only charms and herbology."

Hermione stared at them. "That's only two classes!"

Lira chuckled. "Lighten up 'mione. You're like Lily. _Oh mercy, we have less than 50 classes_! C'mon, it's dance night. Have some fun!"

Hermione took a deep breath. Maybe Lira was right. She should enjoy what was perhaps her last day here.

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"You asked _Hermione_?" James stared at his best mate.

"You have a problem with that?" Sirius asked coolly

"No!" James said hastily. "No, not at all. I mean...c'mon Sirius. You had your pick of half-no, more than half-of the girls in our year!"

"And I picked her." Sirius glanced up.

Ron looked at Harry with an open mouth. He still couldn't seem to believe Sirius had asked Hermione.

"Anyway, what about Derek Damon?" Sirius said evenly.

"He's a prig." James said immediately. "Admit it; after he picked Sammi, you were the other open choice."

"Only because you picked Lily first." Sirius said. He yawned. "Anyway, what does it matter? We have our dates-." He stopped, glancing guiltily at Harry.

Harry pretended he hadn't heard.

"Who's my blind date?" Peter asked, dancing around on his toes.

Sirius didn't even open his eyes. "You'll see her tonight." As Peter walked away excitedly, he whispered to Harry, "I have to figure out who to try Petey's luck with first. Any suggestions?"

Harry stared at him. "You haven't started looking yet? What if you don't find anybody?"

"Very likely." Sirius said calmly. "Then I'd kidnap some 1st year." He winked. "Just kidding."

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Classes flew by faster then Hermione could've thought. Not that anyone besides maybe her or Lily was even trying to pay attention.

James kept winking knowingly at Lily who threatened to jinx him if he didn't cut it out.

Sirius seemed to take the hint too and didn't try to heckle Hermione, but she did catch him looking at her several times when he was supposed to be taking notes.

Nina and Remus passed notes. They looked so incredibly right together it seemed like they'd have a steady relationship for quite a while. Harry inwardly wondered what had happened to her in the future, but quickly quashed that thought. He didn't want to know why, for whatever reason, Nina wasn't around anymore.

Ron kept staring at Lira with a dazed expression as if he couldn't believe his luck at finding someone like her. However, she was sitting in her chair with an unusually straight back without looking around.

Harry sat quietly in his seat staring moodily at his desk. Hermione couldn't help feeling slightly sorry for him. Back home it would've been quite a different story. No way would the boy-who-lived have been without a date.

"Hey, you okay?" She whispered as class ended.

"Mmm, what? Oh, Hermione!" Harry smile unconvincingly. "Yeah, I'm-I'm okay."

His eyes said differently. Harry smiled shakily and quickly hurried after the rest of the boys.

Hermione slowly turned towards the girls' dormitory, mentally bracing herself for what she was sure would be total chaos.

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"Lira, you Hog!" Lily shouted, glaring daggers at the closed bathroom door.

Nina shook her head as she pinned up her hair. "Not my problem."

"What's happening?" Hermione asked, coming in.

"She's been in there for about an hour!" Lily exclaimed. She rattled the doorknob. " Hey Lira-"

The door opened and Lily jumped back to avoid being whacked.

Lira emerged looking gorgeous. Her hair was up and she was wearing a set of floaty, ice blue dress robes.

Hermione smiled, seeing in her minds eye Ron's open mouthed look.

Lily stomped into the bathroom with her robes and locked the door.

Lira rolled her eyes at Nina who was just about done. "Well, I'll see you guys downstairs." She turned towards the door and was almost knocked over by Sammi who came running in at full speed.

"Whoa Sammi," Nina said as Sammi dashed for her trunk and began rummaging through her stuff, throwing clothes over her shoulder in her haste.

"What's up?"

"I can't find my dress robes," Sammi muttered, sitting back on her heels with a frown. "It was in my trunk before..."

Lira rolled her eyes. "Trust Sammi to lose her dress robes 30 minutes before the dance.

Sammi shook her head. "It was in my trunk last night! I'm sure of it!" She began rummaging through her things again.

Nina got up to help and Hermione looked around. "What's it look like?"

"It's black and silky," came Sammi's muffled voice.

Lira sat stiffly on the edge of her bed. Hermione glanced at her. Was she still slightly jealous at Sammi for taking Derek?

Lily came out of the bathroom 20 minutes later to find her friends huddled around a pile of stuff heaped around Sammi's trunk.

"It wasn't me!" Lira exclaimed looking genuinely sorry. "I swear!"

Sammi smiled patting her on the shoulder. "I know Lira. You wouldn't do something like this."

Lira reddened as she nodded.

Sammi looked around. "I know it was them! Derek's stupid fan club."

The other girls stared at her.

"They're still sore that Derek asked me out." Sammi explained. "A bunch of them took and hid my book bag yesterday."

"Oh." Lily made a face. "Jerks."

Lira sighed and stood up. "C'mon, it's 8 minutes to 7. We'll get you ready some other way Sammi."

Sammi glanced around at the group of her friends. Lira was in her gorgeous blue dress robes. Nina's was a nice shade of amber. Lily was dressed in a dark midnight blue and even Hermione had borrowed a dress robe of a shade of pale peach from Nina. She alone was dressed in her ordinary black ones. Sammi turned away.

Hermione and Lily looked at each other. "Don't you have any extras?" Hermione asked softly. "Like Nina did?"

"I don't usually wear dress robes," Sammi muttered. "Those were the only ones I had."

Lira snapped her fingers. She seemed to have gotten over her envy of Sammi. "I have an extra pair in my trunk! I couldn't decide which set to wear so I brought them both from home."

She went to her trunk and pulled out an expensive looking pink pair.

Sammi smiled shakily. "Thanks a bunch Lira. You really saved me."

No one had to say the unspoken fact that as Derek's date, she was supposed to look better than everyone else.

Sammi took the dress robes and immediately realized something.

Lily with her sharp eyes saw it too. "Oh Sammi!"

Lira was maybe an inch above average height. Sammi was much more under average height. The hem of the robes trailed onto the floor and the sleeves went past her hands.

Sammi's face fell.

Lily took out her wand. "C'mon, I think we can-." She stopped, looking at Lira. "Oh sorry, it's your robes."

Lira swallowed. "I'd really like to do something to them, but my mom would kill me."

Sammi nodded as she handed the robes back. "It's okay, really." She sighed, smoothing down her robes. "You think it would be okay if I just wore these?"

Nina glanced at Lily. "Ummm…."

Lira shook her head firmly. "You can't so that! Only really nerdy girls would wear their school robes to the _dance_. You have to-."

At that moment, the clock from downstairs sounded. "7 o'clock." It said happily. "It's now 7 o'clock." The dance had started.

The Gryffindors looked at each other.

"Go on." Sammi said suddenly. "You guys will be late."

They hesitated.

"We should wait-." Lily began.

"Go." Sammi said looking thoughtful. "I have an idea. I'll meet up with you guys downstairs.

"If you're sure," Lira said slowly.

"I'm sure." Sammi said firmly.

She saluted them as the headed down the stairs to where the boys were waiting impatiently in the Common Room.

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"Wow Lira!" Ron exclaimed, his mouth dropping open.

For some reason, Hermione burst out laughing. He glared at her.

"You guys took a while," James said taking Lily's hand. She made as if to pull away but then seemed to change her mind.

Sirius grinned as he twined Hermione's fingers with his own. "You look awesome," he whispered in her ear.

Hermione blushed.

"Where's Sammi?" Harry asked, looking around.

"She had a situation," Lira said mysteriously.

"Oh." Harry frowned.

Hermione noticed both he and Ron were still dressed in school robes, but as most of the guys wore black, it didn't seem to matter much anyway.

The group headed down the hall and towards the Great Hall.

Hermione saw with a start that Peter was walking with a small girl of around 4th year with pale blond hair and wide eyes.

"That's the blind date?" She whispered into Sirius' ear. "You set him up with a _4th_ year?"

"3rd Year actually." Sirius muttered. "She was the oldest taker. There _were_ a few 1st years. Everyone else seemed to have...other interests."

Hermione rolled her eyes but she couldn't help grinning.

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The music was on full blast when the Gryffindors entered the Great Hall.

"Wow." Nina breathed. "Everything's so pretty!"

It looked much like it was at the Yule ball, with ice sculptures and blue and silver tinsel everywhere giving off a snow globe look.

Lira laughed as she twirled. "I can't wait!"

Unfortunately, no on else in the room at the moment seemed as enthusiastic. Most of the students were piled around the food table looking slightly self-conscious. Others chatted or giggled nervously.

Lira looked at Ron. "C'mon! Let's get this party started!"

Ron turned a beetroot color. "Let's not," he mumbled, looking pained.

Lira frowned as she turned around pointedly to talk with one of her Ravenclaw friends nearby.

The Gryffindors spread out towards the rest of the students. James offered Lily a glass of punch while Sirius whispered something in Hermione's ear. Peter and his 3rd year partner looked positively petrified. Harry wandered around sampling some refreshments and observing the other students. Maybe this dance wouldn't be so bad. No one was actually _dancing_. Maybe this would just sort of turn out to be like one of those social chatting things.

At that moment, there appeared to be a ripple effect from the students.

"What's happening?" He asked Nina who was sitting near him.

"Mmmm." She craned her head and suddenly burst out laughing. "Well what do you know, Sammi and her grand entrances."

Harry felt like the bottom of his stomach had just dropped. _Sammi?_Oh god, he'd forgotten about her.

There she was, dressed in a long, scarlet dress robe. She'd done something to her hair to make it look sleek and shiny, and her smile made Harry want to go right up and hold her. That didn't seem possible however, for next to her, coolly holding her left arm was the freakishly handsome Derek Damon.

This was only the second time Harry had seen him, and this time it was up close. His blonde hair reminded him infuriatingly of Malfoy's. His bottle green eyes looked infuriatingly like his own. Everything about him made Harry feel insanely jealous and inferior, from the guy's infuriatingly classic Roman nose to the firm jaw line.

Lira squinted. "What's that she's wearing?"

"A dress robe, right?" Ron said. "What else would she be...?" He stopped.

Harry tilted his head. Those robes looked vaguely familiar...

"Oh my gosh." Nina whispered. "Those are her quidditch robes!"

Around him, everyone was murmuring.

Sammi and Derek stood just outside the door as if uncertain. Well, Sammi did. She whispered something to Derek who shook his head. He looked around at the rest of the students who had gathered to see what the commotion was all about.

Derek smiled peculiarly and glanced down at Sammi who fingered her quidditch robes nervously. Then he tilted her face up to his.

Harry knew what was going to happen the second he started to lean down. Oh my god. Harry quickly averted his eyes but his ears heard the murmuring from the crowd, the hoots from the boys, the angry screeching from some of the girls.

The immediately struck up a slow, smooth song. Derek and Sammi looked at each other. Sammi shrugged as if to say, what the hell, then Damon led her onto the dance floor. Harry closed his eyes, sure he was trapped in some nightmare. This was too perfect for them. The dramatic late entrance, the first couple to dance, the…_kiss_.

Harry opened his eyes and saw Sammi leaning her head against Derek's broad shoulders. Harry turned away.

**YES! YES YES YES! Sorry, but I FINALLY GOT THE MONITER! For those of you who don't know, my moniter busted so I couldn't get in and update. I had to retype the story all over again, but I decided to split the dance into two chapters for your enjoyment.**

**I understand many people might have abandoned the story by now from lack of update, but I sincerely thank those who stayed.(Gosh, I'm up to 10 chapters!)**

**and the chapterly thanks to my wonderful reviewers...**

**Mrs. St. John Allerdyce:** **Thanks for the encouragement. I have a vague idea how** **to end this.**

**Hotkat144**:**Here you have it. :)**

**Wolfgirl99:If you're here I want you to see this. I'm so glad you said what you did because it's an extremely good point that lots of people don't follow. I just got lazy about thinking up a suitable explanation. Maybe I'll revise this story 50 years from now. jk**

**Golden Angel71**: **Glad you did!**

**Aria DeLoncray:Thanks for the support**

**White Alchemist Taya:I feel flattered from all this praise from everyone.**

**air element: Sorry about not updating soon.**

**Arokat: This had been ur shortest review yet! What's it been, a month since I updated?**


	11. decisions decisions

**Oh dammit, I was looking through my first draft of my A Night With You chapter saved by auto save when the monitor busted and it was so much better than the one I posted! It was a different version too. I'll post it if people want to see it…**

**Oh, and the dance is going to be a**_**little**_**longer than I thought.**

"Step with your right, now your left and spin me-no, I said you _left_!"

"Okay, I get it. My left." Ron's face was beet red.

Lira shook her head as she pushed back a strand of blonde hair. "You're hopeless you know," she said and turned to make a face at Nina who was nearby.

Nina smiled, her hands contentedly on Remus' shoulder, and chose to remain an innocent bystander.

Lira sighed and turned back to Ron who was standing with a bewildered expression on his face.

She'd dragged him onto the dance floor an hour before (he'd come willingly after some Ravenclaw had made a move at her) but he didn't seem any better at this hand feet coordination business.

She peeped enviously at where Derek was with Sammi. Now there was a guy who knew how to dance. She sighed and grabbed Ron's arm. "C'mon, we need a break. Get us a butterbeer okay?"

Ron nodded with barely suppressed relief. "Coming right up."

Lira shook her head as she drew near to where Hermione and Sirius were talking in quiet voices. "If I had a blind date you think he'd be any better than that guy?"

Hermione looked up and winced. So Ron was messing this up.

Sirius stroked his chin. "Better? Well….I'm sorry Lira, but most definitely. If _only_ you had come to me first I could have found an _incredibly_ handsome date with whatever you girls want. What, shimmering blue eyes-."

Lira made a face. "_Shimmering_?"

"-Golden blond hair-."

"And who's probably a 2nd year." Hermione cut in. She grinned at Sirius who shrugged. "Stick with Ron. He's alright."

Lira snorted and quickly pasted on a brilliant smile as Ron came running over with the drinks. "At least service is quick."

"What?" Ron panted as he skidded to a stop.

"Nothing." Lira flashed her smile again as she grabbed a bottle and took a long sip.

Sirius looked amused as he stood up. "Ready Hermione?"

Hermione felt her heart beat faster as she stood up beside him. Sirius smiled and took her hand and led her out into the middle of the room.

Hermione gently slid her hands over his shoulder as she felt a slight pressure at her waist. His hands were warm and soft.

A new song was struck up by the Rocking Cauldrons. Hermione closed her eyes, letting the music fill her body. She'd never had actual dancing lessons before, beside the short lecture by Pro. McGonagall before the Yule ball. She was surprised to discover that Sirius danced very well. Nothing like what Ron was with Lira.

"You're good at this," she said. The music was soft enough to talk normally.

Sirius smiled, but there was something behind this one that wasn't like his normal grin. "Considering the hours of training I had to go through as a kid, I would hope it paid off. You can't imagine what the dinner parties my parents threw were like."

Hermione felt he cheeks flush at the way he said "My parents". It was true then, what Harry had told her about Sirius' past.

They continued in silence. The next song was a fast one. Hermione didn't know any of the steps, but neither did most of the people around them, as they retreated back towards the food table. Sirius whirled her around the room through a series of complicated steps and the room spun as Hermione felt like she was in second grade again, on the muggle tire swing at her elementary school. They stopped suddenly in the middle of the song and Sirius caught Hermione as she stumbled.

"Sorry," he said pushing back his bangs. "2 months of dance lessons gone to waste. Can't remember the rest."

Hermione laughed. "Okay then." It was really hot in here. She absently fanned herself with her hand, and noticed an open doorway leading to the garden outside. "Hey, you think we can go in there?" she asked impulsively. Whenever she was around Sirius, he made her feel more daring.

Sirius followed her gaze. "Sure." He strode towards the doors.

Hermione looked around. Everyone elsewas still crowded together in the Great Hall. "You sure?"

"No." Sirius opened the door and held it out for her to enter through.

Hermione smiled and stepped into the cold evening air.

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"What's up with that robe?"

Sammi glanced up from where she'd been pouring herself a cup of punch. "My robe?" She flushed. "Quidditch-."

"We know you're all about quidditch, Taglia." Jane Angsten's eyes were hard with malice. "So you want to rub in the fact you were elected most-likely-to-get-into pros last year? You think just because your better at some game you're better than the rest of us?"

"'course not!" Sammi's face had grown even redder. "Well then again, maybe in your case-."

"Don't talk back." Alice was Angsten's friend. The two Hufflepuffs were huge members in Derek Daimon's fan club. "You think just _you_ can keep Derek all to yourself? I-."

"What's up." Derek was standing next to Sammi." He glanced at the Hufflepuffs. "Oh, hi Jane. And Aly." Alice didn't even seem to mind he'd gotten her name wrong. She smiled and looked up at him from behind her eyelashes. "Hello Derek." She murmured. She was apparently trying to sound like some model in an ad. Unfortunately she was succeeding.

Derek smiled, his eyes running over her slim perfect body.

"And how was the dance tonight?" Jane asked, a curl of golden hair falling over her forehead.

"Fine." Derek said looking surprised. "It was fine."

Sammi scowled. "I'm going to get some butterbeer. Anyone else want some?"

Derek shook his head but Jane nodded. "Yeah, get me one." She smirked.

Sammi scowled even more and pushed her way towards the refreshment table. To her surprise, she found Harry standing next to the punch bowl, looking slightly pale.

"Hey Harry!"

Harry turned and forced a weak smile. "Hey Sammi. How's the dance?"

"Good. Fine." Even she herself was surprised at the forcefulness of her own voice. Sammi swallowed, stealing a peek at where Derek was having some intense conversation with Alice and Jane. "I had a great time dancing." So there, she thought defiantly, turning away from the two.

Harry nodded slowly. "That's great Sammi," he said softly.

Sammi stopped her vengeful thoughts to look at him in concern. "Is something wrong."

_Oh nothing. It' just that the girl I've always wanted is having the time of her life with the most popular guy in school._ "Nah." Harry looked around. "Listen, I have to go talk to James," he lied.

"Oh." Sammi looked vaguely disappointed. She grabbed two butterbeers and nodded at two huge doors leading to the garden outside. "I'm pretty sure he went out there."

Harry smiled weakly. "Oh, thanks." He gave a small wave before striding off in that direction.

She trudged back towards where Derek was standing.

Jane grabbed her butterbeer without a word of thanks. Sammi looked in surprise at something silky exchanged in her hand. A piece of black, silky cloth…

Her head snapped up and her eyes flashed. Jane, sensing the change in her grabbed Alice's hand. "See ya around Derek."

"See you." Derek turned to see Sammi glaring after them. "What's up with you Taglia?" he asked, pulling her behind a pole.

Sammi shook her head. For the first time, she was feeling something called jealousy. It seemed natural to girls like Jane and Alice, but Sammi didn't think she could cope with an episode like that everyday. Strange how things were. She could handle screaming bludgers and racing at 60mph 50 mile in the air, but she couldn't handle a simple cat fight.

Sammi took a deep breath. Alice and Jane apparently didn't think she could. Well she'd show them wrong. Tonight a new Sammi would emerge. A new Sammi who wasn't so completely obsessed with sports and who didn't live in total social Siberia.

"I'm alright." She forced herself to put on a sassy smile. "Wanna dance?"

Derek smiled. That's better, he seemed to say. Sammi followed him grimly onto the dance floor, and though by now she was getting sick of it, she put her hands on his shoulders as a new song started.

Whoever said being popular would be easy? It seemed to take more than just physical sacrifices.

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Harry sat on the hard stone bench out in the garden with his elbows on his knees and his head down. A bitter breeze was blowing as it ruffled his dark hair but he paid no mind. In fact he welcomed the cold. Welcomed the way it made his mind stop working.

He couldn't think; didn't want to think. Maybe if he closed his eyes this world would just melt away….Sammi Taglia. The name and image pounded mercilessly into his brain. Her eyes, Her smile. Her laugh. How unfair was it that he had been so close to be the one to lead her onto the dance floor. The one to take her into his arms….

"….Lily."

Harry looked up. There was a peal of laughter coming from somewhere to his left. Harry felt himself standing up and as if hypnotized, walked slowly down a rock path and several bushy shrubs where he stopped at the back of another stone bench.

2 figures were residing their, and though they were both merely silhouettes he recognized their voices.

"Wait, so when did you start liking me?" Lily asked coyly.

James smiled as his hazel eyes grew dreamy. "1st year. 1st day. You punched Snivelus in the jaw."

Lily flushed. "That wasn't my favorite memory. I've been trying to make it up to him."

James shook his head, "Don't bother. I doubt he remembers." With a sudden movement, he reached out and caught a lock of Lily's hair in his hands as if transfixed.

She looked surprised, and with a small sigh leant back on James' chest. "You know Potter, you're not as bad as I thought," she murmured.

James smiled as he ran a hand through her fiery hair with more confidence. "'course not." Her hair smelled like raspberries. He felt intoxicated with the scent. "I was just scared someone else would ask you out first before you, you know, had a chance to get to know me better. It's already 6th year after all."

Lily said nothing for a minute as she continued to stroke his chest. Then-"I'm glad you asked me first."

James smiled. "Even if someone had asked you before me I would've found a way to get you back."

He yawned, "I really like you Lily.

Lily hesitated, and then in a low voice, said, "I like you too…James."

They snuggled together on the bench as a cool breeze shifted through the garden.

Harry got up then and after a glance back at his parents walked purposefully back towards the castle, his chest tight with emotions.

**Awww. I just thought that was a sweet scene to stop at.**

**I know this started out as a Hermione/Sirius fic but Harry and Sammi got caught up in the plot too, and of course I have to add a bit of Lily/James in the mix. Which couple do you people like the best?**

**And don't worry, I won't abandon this fic, due to the fact I already started outlining a sort of companion story after this one's done. It came to me in a dream actually, so you could call it a vision. Jk…**

**In my haste to update, I can't do mesages, but thanks a bunch to all my reviewers! Career high 13 reviews! lol**

**Ciao!**


	12. wishes fulfilled

_**So**_** sorry for the long updating process. I don't usually do this, but I had a typed draft for a while before revising it.**

**I know you guys all like HG/SB best, so I just finished up the Harry/Sammi situation as it got kind of long already.**

"-And then he tried to ask her out!"

The others roared with laughter. Sammi took a deep breath. She really didn't think the joke was at all funny. Her sides were starting to ache with all this forced laughing anyway. She and Derek had joined two other couples and they'd been gossiping for the past half hour. It had gotten slightly dull in her opinion, but the others seemed to be having fun.

"Anything else interesting?" one of the girls asked, leaning against her date's arm. Sammi vaguely recalled them being introduced as Dennis and Veronica or something."

"Why, you have something in mind, Victoria?" Dennis or something asked." Oh. Victoria.

Victoria smiled coyly and shrugged. "I dunno." She leaned in, suggesting otherwise. "Look at that blonde girl over there, by the butterbeers."

Sammi looked up with a start. "Lira?"

"Shut up." The other girl, Kathy something or other hissed.

Sammi ducked her head.

"Yeah, Laura." Victoria ruled her eyes. Did you see her dancing with that redhead?" Ron. "That guy was horrible. Did you know that she wanted you to ask her Derek?" Victoria said with a smirk. "I heard she was convinced you would."

Derek mimed shooting himself. "You can't be serious." He smiled at Sammi as the others laughed. Sammi smiled back weakly as she felt her face flush. Oh Lira….

"Hey check this out." Derek said suddenly, tilting his head towards the double doors leading towards the gardens. "That bloke who sort of looks like James Potter. With the glasses."

Sammi felt herself go numb. "Harry?"

Harry was standing in the doorway, looking around as if searching for something. Sammi quickly turned away. "Yeah?"

"Look, he's wearing _school_ robes." Derek said with a laugh. "What kind of a loser is that?"

Dennis grinned. "He can't even buy dress robes?" Victoria glanced at Sammi at this.

Sammi felt her teeth clench. She glanced back at the double doors but Harry had gone.

Derek laughed again, the sound cold and mirthless. "I don't even think the guy has a date. Not surprising there, huh? Didn't even know there's a _reason_ the list said "dress robes". He can't be too are you doing Taglia?"

Sammi had stood up then. Her fists were clenched her ears roared. She had a sudden impulse to punch Derek right in the middle of his grinning face. Like always, she followed her instincts.

Derek gave a slightly un-manly squeal as he landed on the floor. The other two couples stared at her as if she had suddenly grown two heads.

Sammi wouldn't have been surprised if she had. She looked at her fist, not quite comprehending what she had done. Then Victoria shrieked. Several people turned. Derek sat up, gingerly feeling his face. He looked livid. "Wrong thing to do Taglia." He growled.

Sammi felt something exploding in her chest. Something she hadn't felt all week. A sort of freedom.

"Afraid I ruined you pretty face?" She asked innocently. "I wanted to do that for a while now."

Derek stared at her in total shock, and stood up, revealing himself to be a good half a head taller than her. "What did you say?" His green eyes were as cold as ice.

Sammi slowly backed up a few steps. They were in the middle of the room. People were starting to notice what was going on. "I said your mother is a goat." She said recklessly in a loud tone. Okay, where had that one come from?

Derek leered. Those pale green eyes were starting to scare her. She felt cold stone wall at her heel. "Did you now? What's gotten into you Sammi?"

Sammi shook her head, not knowing the answer herself. Or did she? Sammi felt her knees tremble slightly as the thought dawned on her. A certain someone…

The other two couples were looking at them without worry. Derek slowly pulled out his wand. Sammi fumbled around for hers but she couldn't quite seem to make her fingers move. .This was it, he was going to hex her now. Sammi smiled, thinking how melodramatic this entire evening was turning out to be. Just as suddenly, a slim wand met Derek's from behind her shoulder.

"Don't touch her. Don't you dare try to jinx her."

Sammi's eyes snapped open. "H-Harry?"

Harry was glaring at Derek as he twisted the older boy's arm away. He turned to Sammi, his eyes traveling over her familiar face.

_Even if someone had asked you before me, I would've found away to get you back.._ Harry felt himself smiling. The wise words of James Potter. "I wanted to do this for so long." And he kissed her. Right on the lips. Right in front of an open-mouthed Derek Damon and his admirers. Right in front of the entire room.

Sammi closed her eyes, and then she gasped a little and pulled away.

Harry felt his head go warm. Oh god, what if she didn't even like him? He hadn't thought about that. What if she had wanted to be with Damon all along, and he'd been wrong to assume that Damon had been about to hex her back there?

Sammi looked into his green eyes, so warm and trusting compared to Derek's. He had the cutest, saddest look on his face. Sammi smiled. "Well, _I'd_ always wanted to do this." And she stood on her toes and kissed him back.

A sigh came up from behind Harry's back and she saw Lira and Ron both standing up to get a better view. For some reason she got the giggles then and had to pull out mid-kiss to laugh.

Harry smiled in confusion, rubbing her back.

"But-but she's _mine_!" Derek shouted, his handsome face twisted in fury. "She's my date you bastard!"

Sammi pulled out of Harry's arm so Derek could get a good look at her face. "Are you really going to keep on fantasizing? _This _is _over_."

There was another audible gasp coming from the crowd..

Derek looked as if he didn't quite comprehend. Then with a swift movement, pulled out his wand. "Right. So which one of you-." He fell silent as Harry pulled out his wand. The two boys stared at each other. It was Damon who first looked away.

Harry felt the roar of triumph inside of him. Sammi gazed at Derek for a second and shook her head. She grabbed Harry's hand. "Let's get out of here."

"I know a good place." Harry said. The crowd parted to let them through as they ran off to the gardens.

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The sky was a clear indigo blue. Hermione leant her head back to gaze at the stars.

"Nice night." Sirius said, rubbing her cold hand between his warm fingers. "You like it here in London?"

"Of course, why wouldn't I?" Hermione asked, watching her warm breath curl in a wisp of smoke towards the sky above.

"Because you've lived in some other place for most your life, right? What was it again?"

Hermione caught on in a flash. Damn, what had Harry said again? "Am-America. We came from the states."

"Right." Sirius looked towards the bushes.

"My family's there." Hermione said, beginning to talk faster. "They-well, they're dentists you see. What about you? How's your family?" She was so eager to change the subject she realized too late what she'd just said. "Oh I mean-."

But Sirius had already begun to speak. "My family? You've heard of the Blacks right?"

Hermione nodded miserably.

Sirius' voice had gotten lower and more intense. "They're horrible. Those stupid pure-blood activists. They're really into that whole Pure Blood is better than everything else thing. They really love my brother Regulus. He's like a little lap dog." He laughed his bark-life laugh. "I guess I'm some sort of a disgrace." He looked away and paused. "I'm going to run away."

Hermione stared at him. Harry hadn't told her everything about what he's learned about Sirius' family. "R-run away?"

"To James' place or something." Sirius sat back, a fantasizing look coming over his eyes. "The Potters are great. They aren't prejudicts at all." There was such a longing in his voice that Hermione felt her throat close up. She knew exactly what he wanted, and she also knew he wasn't going to get it. He would get thrown into Azkaban, go on the run, and die a fugitive, the rest of the world not even knowing he was innocent.

When her voice was back under control, she pointed a finger towards a single star above an oak tree in the distance. "You see that?"

Sirius looked. "Which one?"

"The one right above the center of that tree over there."

Sirius nodded. "Yeah?"

"That's Sirius, the Dog Star. It's supposed to be the brightest star in the night sky." She squeezed his hand. "See? Sirius, the brightest star in the sky. You're going to have a- a great future ahead of you."

It sounded a little corny in her ears. By Sirius' expression, she thought he was going to scoff at her but instead he said in a low voice, "You really think so?"

Hermione nodded. "I do."

She gazed into Sirius' silvery grey eyes. They shone and danced teasingly. Hermione suppreseed a shudder as she remembered the look they'd take on in only a few years. The look she's first seen back in the shrieking shack. That dead haunted look that Azkaban gave, Hermione closed her eyes.

"Is there something wrong?" Hermione opened her eyes and realized a tear had slid down her cheek.

"I'm fine." The answer was incoherent as she fought to keep down the wave of emotions welling in her chest. She sniffed a little, wiping her eyes with the sleeve of her robes.

She felt a pressure around her shoulders and was surprised as she discovered Sirius arm bringing her to his chest. His hand stroked her hair.

Hermione felt another wave of emotions erupting in her but she pushed them down.

"It's all right." Sirius murmured. They looked at each other. The intensity of his eyes made Hermione fell dizzy.

When their lips met, she submitted fully, her world centered entirely on that non-existent space between him and herself.

**Whoa there. So there you have it, their wishes fulfilled. BUT….is this how it stays? I'm sorry folks, but no one ever said life was ever fair. Especially not in Harry's world. Oh, and now I feel sad…**

**I'll cheer myself up by thinking about the wonderful reviews I got.**

**Reviews! I haven't done this in a while.**

White Alchemist Taya: **He was planning to follow his father and get Sammi back. :)**

Mrs. St. John Allerdyce: **Thaynk you**

Hotkat144:**There you have it, the long-awaitted kiss.**

Sam's Firefly:**Yay! I felt I was being slightly distracted by the other stuff, so I was worried you people wouldn't like it.**

Hazel-Buttafly:**Thanks for replying. I needed to know what to put in**.

.:**Thanks. OC stands for original character. In this case it's Sammi**.

Nynaeve80:**I hope you like the last scene. The star par came from a random inspiration while reading my science textbook.**

arokat:**Of **_**course **_**Lily's haor smells like Rasberries:( Jk. I updated again! You'll be proud of me.**


	13. CHapter 13dundun DUN

**I'm baaaak!**

**So Sorry for going on hiatus for all these weeks. My sincere appreciations for those who stayed with the story.**

**Here's a recap/summary about the story beforehand, as I'm sure many of you have completely forgotten about the plot of the story from my (ahem) lack of updatingness.**

**Harry, Hermione, and Ron** accidentally went **back in time**from a mysterious book (orgoff) that Hermione had found. To their surprise, the trio find themselves in **the time of the Marauders.** (fun fun fun) Through**quidditch games** and **classroom tricks** and **McGonagall suspicions**, the three spend their time until they learn of **the dance**. Harry finds himself attracted to**Sammi Taglia,**a smart-mouthed quidditch star, while **Hermione unintentionally falls for none other than Sirius Black**. Complications arise (Derek Damon) but things eventually sort themselves out.

**We have, Hermione/Sirius, Harry/Sammi, James/Lily, Remus/Nina, Ron/Lira, Peter/random 3rd year.**

**Enjoy!!**

The night was cool.

Sammi Taglia was feeling anything but cold. She and Harry walked towards a stone bench in the courtyard, both feeling a sort of surrealism about themselves.

"That was dramatic." Sammi finally said, when she could speak.

Harry felt himself flush. "Yeah. With the….break up and then having a random guy coming out of nowhere.."

"And the whole 'don't touch her or I'll jinx you bit'."

Harry looked down at her. She was grinning. He squeezed her hand and stared up at the starry night feeling suddenly dizzy.

"I like drama." Sammi murmured. She yawned and leaned against his shoulder.

Harry rubbed his scar absentmindedly. "What was that whole thing with you and Damon about anyway?"

Sammi visibly tensed. "Oh, you don't want to know. Nothing that matters anyway." She turned, smiling hesitantly at him.

Harry felt warm inside. Neither said anything for a few moments. The silence stretched.

Harry reached up and draped his arm over her shoulder. He wasn't sure what he was supposed to do now. Draping didn't seem right. He took his arm off. But that didn't seem right either. Sammi must have seen his agitation because she tried to smile reassuringly. Except that softened her face, and showed some of the nervousness underneath. She didn't know what to do any more than hi did.

Harry took a deep breath. That actually made him feel a little better.

The Dursleys hadn't shown him many movies. They hadn't shown him any actually, but he'd sneaked down to the stairs a couple times to watch. Aunt Petunia hadn't approved of romance flicks though, so those weren't any help. He'd have to go by instinct.

Harry slowly reached up and pushed the hair from Sammi's eyes. She looked grateful that he was moving, and took his other hand into her lap. Harry smiled. This wasn't that bad. Not as frosty as that date with Cho

Harry put a hand behind her head and pulled her close. Sammi kissed him on the lips.

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Ron saw it all.

He'd been vaguely curious when he saw Sammi's date advance on her looking extremely pissed off. He 'd winced as he waited for the blow, but then as if in a movie, Harry, always the hero, appeared out of nowhere. to save the current damsel in despair. Then he watched as the two locked lips as if they actually were acting out the movie.

At first, all Ron felt was emptiness inside of him. He would never admit it, but there had been a small feeling of triumph in him when he walked into the dance with Lira, and a dateless Harry next to him. For once, he Ron had come out on top. But of course, the Chosen One always got a girl.

Ron shook himself angrily. What was he thinking? What was wrong with him? He should have learned last year at the Yule Ball that Harry's friendship was worth more than any amount of jealousy.

So why was he so upset?

Ron glanced sideways to see Lira stare out across the dance floor with a shocked expression on her face. Her brilliant blue eyes were intense and her long dark blonde hair glowed under the lamps. Ron still couldn't quite believe his luck at finding someone so Fleur-like.

But that was the thing. That was exactly the point. With a sudden burst of realization, Ron finally saw it all. Lira had gone with him for the simple reason that he was the only one left and no one in their right mind would willingly go with Peter Pettigrew. She'd gone because her crush was already with someone else (Sammi to be exact). And he Ron….he didn't feel anything from her. She had her looks, but…he had to talk.

"Lira-."

"Ron…"

They stared at each other. Lira shook her head. "You go first", she said, turning back to the dance floor where some teachers had come over to stop the fight.

Ron shook his head, feeling himself flush all the way to the tip of his ears. "No you."

"Okay then…" Lira fingered her dress. "What do you think about me?" She asked abruptly.

Ron stared. "What?"

Lira didn't shy away. "I mean, you don't like me very much…"

Despite the fact that this was exactly the conversation he'd been trying to get at, Ron was amazed at her lack of bashfulness. "Ummm, well I…."

"No you don't." Lira said with an indifferent shrug. "I mean, you don't I mean, not like say, Harry and Sammi. It's okay-"

"What about me?" Ron blurted.

Lira looked at him coolly. "I liked _Derek Damon_. Why would you trust my judgment?"

Ron shook his head, turning even more scarlet. "I just want to know."

Lira looked down. "You should find someone more like you," she whispered.

Ron looked away.

After a few awkward seconds, he felt a cool hand take his. Ron looked up in surprise to meet Lira's cool blue ones.

"Want to dance?"

The night was over. Some of the teachers were starting to finish up drinking and the band seemed to be getting tired.

Ron slowly nodded. "One dance,"

Lira raised an eyebrow, but she smiled. "Last one."

They walked onto the floor.

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Hermione had never felt this comfortable before. The cold air stung her cheeks, but Sirius' warm arms kept her close..

"Sirius?" Hermione murmured.

"Hmmm?"

"What do you plan on doing….after school? After Hogwarts?"

Sirius stopped moving for a second as he pondered. "I'm not sure yet. Get away from my parents, that's for sure. Maybe stay some place with James." He smiled. "You and Lily should come with us."

Hermione inhaled sharply. She thought of _The Book_ under her pillow. Would she actually stay around for that long? After Hogwarts? Where would she go for the summer? And they couldn't go sneaking around all year, could they? So far it had only been a week or so and McGonagall had already suspected…

"What's wrong?" Sirius whispered.

Hermione looked up with a start. "Oh sorry I…" She buried her face in his robes, feeling the delicious feeling of safety in his arms. If she could stay here, with Sirius, that would be…unimaginable.

"You know Hermione?" Sirius tugged on a lock of her hair.

"I've never met a girl like you before."

Hermione blushed despite herself. Really? How did he see her as special? "And I've never met someone quite like you either."

"Of course not." Sirius said with a grin. "I'm one of a kind."

That's right, Hermione thought as they kissed again. And I'll probably never meet anyone like you ever again. Not even in the future.

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"Party's over" Lira met Nina under one of the large columns. "How was your night?"

Nina blushed, glancing over at where Remus was talking with Peter Pettigrew, who had somehow run away from his date. "Oh, wonderful." She smiled. "He's completely fabulous."

Lira raised an eyebrow. "If you, uh, say so." She glanced over at Ron standing across the room.. "Yeah, that kid's not too bad either."

"Not too bad?" Nina said with a smile. "Lira, for you, that's like-."

"We had a talk." Lira interrupted. "And, he didn't exactly freak out about basically getting dumped like most boys."

Nina sighed. "You are impossible." She looked around. "Where's Lily?"

Lira shrugged. "Haven't seen her this whole night. Cripes, what if Potter did something to her? I'd kill him."

Nina patted her on the arms. "Relax, I think I saw her going into the gardens earlier. Hey, didn't Sammi go out there too?"

Lira nodded. "Yeah, with that Palter guy. Harry." She deliberately avoided saying Damon's name. "Where's Hermione? With Black?"

"Dunno." Nina smiled. "I still can't believe they're together. It's too cute."

Lira nodded absently. "Hey, we should tell the others to get back upstairs before the teachers come to get them and see something they don't want to see."

Nina smile. "Good idea." She waved at Remus, who immediately came jogging over.

"You guys are…." Lira shook her head. "Never mind.

The three headed towards the door to the gardens. It was too cold for most people, but a few couples were coming out, looking dreamy.

"We should have gone out there.." Nina sighed, taking Remus' hand."

"We'll do it now." Remus kissed her on the cheek and she blushed.

Lira pulled open the door with more force than was necessary.

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It was ghostly outside.. Silver moonlight reflected off the stone statues creating a milky, shimmery atmosphere. Very romantic. Remus glanced at the moon uneasily, and quickly squeezed Nina's hand.

Lira spotted Harry and Sammi first.

They were leaning comfortably against each other, talking about something. .Sammi saw them immediately. She sat up abruptly as if electrocuted.

Harry turned around, looking regretful. "Time to leave?"

Nina nodded.

Harry sighed, taking Sammi's hand. "C'mon."

The group found Hermione and Sirius next, by accident.

Sirius and Hermione were in the middle of some particularly long kiss. Poor Harry stared for a few seconds before looking away.

Lira did some silent mock cheerleading routines.

Sirius saw them first. He didn't jump up like Sammi, but continued at his pace, kissed Hermione's nose, _winked_, and stood up. "Lovely night." He put an arm around Hermione's waist and pulled her gently to her feet.

Hermione was blushing incredibly. "Were you all watching? Harrry?"

Sirius kissed her ear. "Relax. Look at how jealous they are." He grinned wickedly.

"Any of you seen Lily? Or James?" Nina asked peacefully while Lira made faces.

Sirius shook his head, stretching lazily. "Naw, Prongs is taking his own sweet time. Wonder if you better go save your friend now."

Lira and Nina looked shocked.

Sirius laughed. "I was kidding! Only kidding…."

Nina shivered violently. Remus looked at her in concern. "You're cold? We should get you inside." He looked at Sirius.

Padfoot hooked his arm around Hermione's. "So what's going on?"

Sammi groaned, burying her face in Harry's shirt. "Save me now."

"I'll go find James and Lily." Harry volunteered. "You guys can go inside."

Hermione looked p. "You sure?" She looked at him in a way that meant more than just about the cold.

Harry nodded. Yeah."

Sirius grinned. "Well done mate. I'll be waiting inside with hot chocolate."

Sammi whacked him in the arm. "Should I come?" She asked Harry. She'd seen the look between Hermione and Harry.

Harry hesitated, then shook his head. "Even quidditch uniforms get cold. Save me some…hot chocolate."

Sammi smiled, kissing him on the cheek. "Will do."

Harry waved, and set off through the gardens. Lily and James. He blew on his cold fingers. Lily and James…Lily and James….His parents.

Somehow, he sensed this would be one of his last days here. He could decide to stay…Should he stay? And be with the parents he never knew? That would be paradise…..

"You're not going into professional quidditch after school?" Lily's voice reached his ears. For a moment the disembodied voice reminded Harry so much of that first encounter with the dementor, the screaming of that woman's voice, that he had to crouch down with a gasp. Gradually the feeling passed, and he stood up to find them sitting in the same bench he'd seen them in earlier.

"You don't have to sound surprised," James grumbled. He seemed to smile. "Though I'm flattered."

Lily laughed. "Well, you're always walking around with that stupid snitch, and everyone places so much emphasis on quidditch this year for some reason…..Sammi says she wants to go pro after school."

James smiled. "Yeah, well she's good, you have to admit."

"More than good." Lily agreed, "but so are you."

"I don't know…." James hesitated. "I might go into fighting the dark arts or something. Have you read in the papers, about all the attacks starting to happen this year? No one knows why."

Lily kissed him on the lips. "That's what I love about you. What I'm falling in love with. I never knew you had this in you, the whole…thinking about other people…."

"You don't have to sound so surprised," James whispered again. He looked up at the stars. "Schools almost over. In less than 2 years….we'll be adults!"

"It still blows my mind to think about it," Lily agreed.

There was a pause.

"The question is, are we staying together."

The two looked at each other.

James shrugged. "You know what I think."

Lily didn't say anything as she considered.

James took her hand. "When I started liking you, it was all about the looks, and the brains, and maybe how you weren't completely willing, But talking to you now…there's a whole lot more in you, Lily, that I want to get to know more."

"Wow," Lily whispered. "That's deep." She smiled. "I think I want to get to know you better too. Who knows…this might work out."

Harry slowly shook himself. He hadn't realized how long he'd been listening. He could go up to them, but he didn't want to destroy this atmosphere they'd created. What if he came in on a time when they were bonding, and they decided not to be together anymore….

Lily solved the problem first.. "Come on, it's getting kind of late, don't you think."

James stood up. "Yeah, let's get inside. Whoa, I'm stiff." He caught sight of Harry and stopped.

Lily turned around. "You now I…" She also stopped, also seeing Harry.

"The others sent me to get you." Harry whispered.

Their looks softened. Lily grabbed James' arm. "Come on." As they walked by, Lily took Harry's hand. "Black better have some hot cider waiting for us."

Harry smiled. "If he doesn't drink it all." He moved his fingers in Lily's loose grasp, and she squeezed it.

His mother was holding his hand. Harry could not believe it. Sammi…James…Lily….this was a magical night.

**And that's the end of the dance. Good job to those who understood what's happening. Now I have to take a rest. Too much writing too early in the morning…12 reviews!!**

**White Alchemist Taya**: What if they have to go back indeed

**Hotkat144** Thank you, loyal reader

**ponysteph15** Okay, you have questions because I was a bad writer and for got about/neglected to think up of a logical reason...the second one I'll answer though

**o0Dreamer0o** I am sooo bad with romantics and stuff. Oh well...

**Hazel-Buttafly** I tried, I really did, to make this one longish.

**Nynaeve80**HGSB...I'll try in the mext chapter

**Mrs. St. John Allerdyce** failed with the updating

**Sam's Firefly**:Heh, thanks. Makes me feel better about the Sammi/Harry

**BloodLove16**Awww thanks

**Brandy Lebeau** Posting. Sorry for the delay

**Kaylen-Hikari**Yay! Glad you like the story

**Arokat!!**: It's my job to tell you Lily's hair smells like raspberries.


	14. In the Hog's Head

**Here comes the serious part. We are nearing the end. Dun dun dun….**

_Dark clouds drew near to converge in on top of the small house. Lightning flashed its bright veins across the sky and thunder tore through the air as if wanting to shake the ground apart._

_A lone shape dressed in dark robes advanced silently to the front door and unlocked it with a swish of his wand. Screams and shouts tore through the once peaceful household._

_The man was easy to get rid of. He went first. Then came the woman and the baby. The woman screamed, her red hair flashing in the dying light, as she attempted to protect her child._

_The wizard killed her anyway and lowered his hood to observe the baby, revealing pale skin, red eyes, a snake-like nose. He stepped over the dead body of the woman to point the wand—._

"Ahhhhhh!" Harry sat up with a start, sweat dripping down his face. His head ached and he felt nauseous. Ron's familiar freckled face appeared in front of him.

"You okay mate?"

"Yeah." Harry took a deep breath, closing his eyes against the blinding sunlight. "Yeah. It was a dream. Just a dream."

Ron raised an eyebrow. "Looked like more than just a dream mate. You were screaming bloody murder."

Harry looked around cautiously. The room was otherwise empty, beside Peter who was still asleep. He took a deep breath. "It was—." He stopped. It felt too weird to talk about it.

Harry stood up, rubbing his scar. "It's okay. It's nothing. We should get down to the common room."

Ron hovered around anxiously while Harry threw his robes on over his clothes. "Are you sure? It wasn't…you-know-who…was it?"

"It was _nothing_!" Harry snapped. Immediately he felt guilty. "I'm okay." He said in a softer tone. "Let's go find the others."

Ron slowly nodded though his face showed his disbelief. The two boys exited the room towards the common room.

Behind them, Peter Pettigrew's eyes snapped opened and his gaze followed them out the door.

The Gryffindor Common Room was loud and noisy as usual. It made Harry's head ache.

Ron looked at him sympathetically and scanned the room. "Hey, there she is."

Hermione struggled in through the doorway, among a gaggle of 2nd year girls. "Hey, you two." Her eyes lit up when she saw them. "You sure slept in. It's almost 10." She stuffed a ginger bread cookie in each of their mouths from the giant stack in her hands.

"You sure look happy," Ron commented, swallowing the rest of the cookie in one bite.

Hermione shrugged, her eyes shining. "Really?"

Harry extracted the cookie from his mouth and had to swallow several times to get rid of what seemed like the overly sweet taste in his mouth. He felt the opposite of whatever Hermione had stimulating her. His skin felt clammy and his head was hot. "Hermione, I have to—I just—I had the weirdest drea—."

"That's a lot of cookies."

"You want one?" Hermione leaned back into a pair of arms.

Sirius shook his head. "No thanks, I—oomph!"

Hermione laughed as Sirius struggled with an overstuffed mouth. She turned back to the other two boys. "What were you saying, Harry?"

Ron stared.

Harry sighed, shaking his head. "Nothing. Never mind." He didn't want to spoil Hermione's unusually cheerful mood.

Before, Hermione might have argued, but now she nodded agreeably. "Okay then. You guys should get ready though. We're going to—."

"Hogsmeade!" Lira shrieked from the bulletin board. "There's _Hogsmeade_ today?"

"That." Hermione said, leaning back into Sirius' arms.

Ron looked at them suspiciously.

"Oh." Harry rubbed his eyes. "What is with all these parties? First the dance, now Hogsmeade…"

"What's the matter? Why worry?" Sirius asked. He waved an arm about. "It's a sign. A sign that Hogswartian students were meant to party."

Hermione snorted, punching him in the arm. "Hogswartian?"

Sirius shrugged. "What, you want Hogswartinese? Hogswartonian?"

Harry smiled feeling some of the tension in him loosen. Sirius could make anyone relax. He took another deep breath, feeling better for the first time that morning. A pair of arms wrapped around him. "Gaaah!"

Sammi laughed. "You're nervous."

"I'm not nervous." Harry smiled despite himself. "Hi."

Sammi smiled back. "Hey."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "What's with this 'hi' and 'hey' business? C'mon let's get going—wait, has anyone seen James?"

"Great Hall with Lily." Sammi said absently.

"Gryffindor Common Room behind Padfoot." James said, appearing behind them with Lily and Peter following closely behind.

Sirius jumped. "Geez, you scared me."

"Are you nervous?" Harry asked with a grin. Sirius looked confused, but Sammi punched him in the arm.

"We've been waiting for you guys for hours." James yawned. "Hogsmeade is the best. You have to try out Honeydukes…and Zonkos. The two best places in the world."

Ron looked confused. "What are you talking about? We've been there loads of—."

"Oh, that's right!" Sirius exclaimed. "You guys are from out of town. He looked at Hermione. "You have never tried a butterbeer before?"

"Er, no." Hermione said, looking like she was going to burst out laughing.

"I'd love to try." Ron said quickly. "I've always wanted to, um eat chocolate frogs and those every flavor beans."

Peter looked confused. "You've never had those? I heard they were being produced all over the world. International candies."

Oops. "Well, my aunt and uncle don't let me eat much candy. So I can finally have a chance away from home." Harry said quickly. That had actually been true.

"That sucks..." James shook his head. "What about your parents?"

"M-My parents?" Harry's breath caught in his chest as he remembered the dream from last night. "I-I don't—."

He didn't know what to say. Both Ron and Hermione were looking at him as if stricken.

"They're always away traveling." Sammi said. "He doesn't see them much." She squeezed his hand.

"I wish my parents were always traveling," Sirius sighed. "I—."

"We know, Black." Lily cut in, rolling her eyes. "You hate your parents' guts."

"Brother too."

"No you don't," Remus was behind him. "You know you don't _completely_ hate them."

"What is with people just popping out of nowhere?" Sirius asked in annoyance. Evidently the discussion about his family was not putting him in a good mood.

Remus looked confused.

"And I do too hate them, Moony." Sirius added "Not everyone's a saint like you."

"I'm not a saint-." Remus began.

"I hear Hogsmeade calling." James said pointedly.

The group began to move towards the door.

"Thanks for covering for me," Harry whispered.

Sammi shrugged. "No problem."

"Wait, how do you know?" Harry asked.

"Know what?"

Harry hesitated. "Umm, what to say?"

Sammi shrugged. "I didn't. Not really. You just looked really uncomfortable, so…I made something up. Why?"

"Oh nothing. I just—."

The group suddenly stopped. "What's up?" Sammi called.

Hermione's eyes were wide. "We don't have Hogsmeade forms."

Harry stopped. "That's right, we don't. We, uh, didn't receive them when we were making the exchange. I guess the teachers forgot about it or something."

"Well let's go talk to them." James said. "We can't go without you three!"

The trio exchanged looks.

Hermione looked down. "No good. Our parents couldn't sign it today, anyway."

"Couldn't we go as a group?" Sammi asked. "Maybe Filch will miss them…"

"No good. Filch does each individual person. That's why the lines take so long..."

James snapped his fingers. "That's right." He exchanged a look with Sirius. "Remember what we _do_ when the lines get to long?"

Sirius's eyes lit up. "Oh!" He smiled at Remus. "We could…do it. Right?"

Lily looked uncomfortable. What's going on? What are you doing?"

James smiled. "You'll see." He leaned towards the group. "Listen, we know umm, a way to get Harry, Hermione and Ron into Hogsmeade. Can't tell anyone 'cause you're not Marauders , but I think we can get them through for today."

"You're showing them the passage?" Peter demanded.

Everyone turned to look at him.

"It's fine," Sirius said, looking at Hermione. "They wont' _tell_ anyone, right?"

Ron shook his head enthusiastically. "Of course not."

"But _no_ one except the Marauders know!" Peter protested.

The other Maruaders looked uncomfortable.

"We're exchange students." Hermione said softly. "We'll be gone soon. Hogwarts secret passages won't mean anything to us then."

"That's right!" Sirius said brightly. He looked at Hermione a moment longer as if contemplating, then shook himself. "Let's get going."

"What is going on here?" Lily demanded.

"Okay." James said, ignoring her. He gestured at the rest of the 6th years. You guys go and try to clear the hallways. Peter, go with them to make sure no one tries to follow us. Mmmm, actually, Moony, go with him to make sure he doesn't mess up.

Sirius beckoned with his finger. "Okay, you three, come with us."

Hermione turned around and gave a pointed look at Harry. She'd also figured out what was happening. Harry quickly put on a confused expression as he hurried to catch up with Sirius' long strides.

James caught up with them halfway down the hall. "Everything's good," he panted. "Moony's got them in order, and everyone else is downstairs." He grinned at Harry, Ron and Hermione. "Wait till you see this. We discovered it our second year." He sounded very smug.

They arrived at the statue of a one-eyed witch. James glanced up. "Is anyone watching?"

Everyone looked around. It was only the five of them in the deserted hall. Harry thought he heard commotion from downstairs. He looked at Sirius who grinned back. "Distraction accomplished."

"Okay." James pulled out his wand with a flourish. He looked like he had been looking forward to showing this off for quite a while. "_Dissendium_." The hump on the witch instantly opened, revealing a small hole.

Harry pretended to be amazed. Hermione and Ron stared. There was a gasp that emitted from behind all of them. They whirled around, James and Sirius with their' wands raised.

James relaxed, though slightly. "Evans! I thought you'd be downstairs with the others!"

Lily stepped out from behind a column looking slightly sheepish, but determined nonetheless. "It was obvious you were breaking school rules. I had to see what was up…" Her voice faded as she stepped forwards to touch the sides of the hole in the statue. "This leads to Hogsmeade?"

James nodded proudly.

"How'd you find this?"

"Second year. It was all me of course…" James trailed off as he caught sight of the look Sirius was giving him. "C'mon, she won't tell anyone right?"

Sirius rolled his eyes. "And what event over the past 6 years is leading you to believe that?"

James bit his lip, looking at Harry, Ron and Hermione for help.

They decided to keep out of it.

"I won't tattle."

Lily's voice surprised all of them. She looked at them. "Presuming you aren't sneaking into Hogsmeade to shoplift all the time…are you?"

James shook his head quickly. "Of course not!" He smiled brightly. "Want to check out this amazing tunnel?"

"I don't see what's so amazing about it," Lily sniffed. She peered inside cautiously. "There's nothing _living_ in there, is there?"

Sirius shrugged. "Can't say exactly. We never did find out what had sucked Peter's shoe clean off his feet. Or the strange slime that looks suspiciously like sali-." He stopped, feeling Hermione's hand in his. "Of course, you're safe with us." He added hastily.

James rolled his eyes, and hoisted himself into the hole. "C'mon, or one of the teachers will be coming."

Lily followed without hesitation. Then came Harry, Ron, Hermione, and lastly Sirius.

The sensation was the same. It felt like sliding down a long, stone slide. Upstairs, James and Sirius showed them a few tricks to make it into Honeydukes without being seen from behind the counter.

"Wow!" Hermione murmured. She caught Harry's eye. "So that's how you came up to me and Ron that time in third year," She whispered.

Harry nodded, reveling in the sugary warmth of the shop.

The trio ended up buying a whole bunch of candy under the pressure of James and Sirius. (Try these Pepper Imps! Peter almost wet his pants the first time I showed them to him)

"Harry!" Sammi appeared out of nowhere at his shoulder. "So you got through? What was it?" She added in a lower voice.

Harry hesitated, looking at James who stood nearby, greeting the rest of the pack who were pushing through the doorway.

"Secret passage." He whispered. "James said a spell and a hole opened up." He shrugged, pretending not to know more.

Sammi's eyes widened.

"Hey look! It's Dinas! And Malfoy!"

The Gryffindors looked up as Sirius pointed towards the Slytherins. James' eyes narrowed.

There were a bunch of Slytherins in the shop. The green and silver crowd muttered to each other as they crowded near the door.

"Hey! If you aren't buying, then clear the doorway!" Someone yelled.

The Slytherins looked around threateningly, but couldn't seem to come up with the person. The group exited the shop, overturning containers of candy as they went.

"Let's go!" James pushed after them, jumping over a pile of chocolate bars as he went.

Peter followed him eagerly.

"Potter! What are you doing? James?" Lily called, looking frustrated.

Sirius shrugged at her. "Hey, he hasn't gotten back at them yet. C'mon, it's not Snivelus this time."

Remus rolled his eyes. "Oh bother." He motioned towards the others. "We better keep them out of trouble."

Harry and Hermione looked at each other. "C'mon, she whispered, leading the way out the door.

The air outside was stinging compared to the warmth of Honeydukes. There also happened to be a full-fledged snowball fight going on. Sirius whooped as he hurled a lump at one of the Slytherins, efficiently knocking off his hat. Sammi joined in, laughing. She'd been part of the quidditch team too, after all. Her aim was deadly. Snowballs were even easier to throw than quaffles.

Lily stood by uncertainly as even Nina bent to pack together some snow.

"Hey look, it's the mudblood!" A Slytherin shouted.

James launched himself at the person, while Lily's face turned red. She took out a wand and caused an avalanche of snow to dump itself on the nearest Slytherin. Hermione looked surprised at her actions. Harry and Ron joined in the fight eagerly.

"Sammi's a beast," Ron panted as he rubbed his frozen hands,

One of Sammi's snowballs hit a tree so hard that chunks of bark came off. Harry smiled proudly. "Yeah. Bet she gets in the pros."

A snowball landed in the snow near them and they turned to see Hermione packing snow determinedly.

"_Hermione?_" Ron exclaimed in shock.

She smiled. The smile quickly dropped off her face. "Watch out."

The Slytherins were getting very mad. Wands were coming out rapidly. Harry and Ron pulled out their own as spells flew in every which direction. Innocent passer byers screamed at the sight.

A group of teachers could be seen coming towards their direction. Harry saw McGonagall's tight knot and her thinning lips among them. It occurred to him that things might get very confusing if they were to be caught..

"Run!" Sirius shouted. The crowd immediately scattered. Harry, Ron and Hermione ran twisting through the streets, laughing and clutching their sides.

"Are we safe?" Hermione panted as she leaned against a brick wall for support. Harry realized they were outside the dirty building of the Hogs Head, where the DA had met less than a year later. He felt himself quickly grow serious as he remembered the events that followed.

"That was wicked!" Ron whispered. Snow was encrusted in his bright hair but it didn't seem like he cared.

Harry smiled reluctantly. Things were always fun around James and Sirius. Even Lily was proving to be more and more willing to break rules. Harry hadn't seen that coming.

"Oh crap, there's Slughorn!" Ron hissed.

The three peered around the corner. Sure enough, the potions master was ambling down the street, looking not at all like he was out to catch some misbehaving students. Better safe than sorry though.

"Let's get in." Harry crept out and pulled open the door to the Hogs Head, praying that Slughorn wouldn't look over.

He didn't. They went inside.

The air was dark and musty.

The few people in the pub looked up suspiciously as the three students crept in. There were 2 hags, murmuring by the window, and a group of adult witches and wizards in black robes consulting in a corner. A large, ogre-like man nursed a drink at the bar.

"Umm, three butterbeers please," Hermione said, with a bright smile.

The bartender cast them a dirty look as he extracted there dirty bottles of butterbeer from a cabinet below him.

"What do we do?" Ron whispered, looking outside. They took a seat near the group sitting in the corner, as far away from the ogre as possible.

"Wait here until things die down I guess," Hermione whispered back. She tasted the butterbeer gingerly.

Harry took his own and sat back. The pub was very quiet compared to the chaos outside.

The door opened and a sweaty wizard walked in to join the group in the corner.

"Where are they?" A witch snapped impatiently.

The wizard looked around. "..most of them…caught…can't come…" He whispered behind a cupped hand.

The group murmured.

Ron tried in vain to dry his hair. Hermione wrung out her own and quickly caught his bottle as his elbow knocked into it.

"You think Sirius and James are okay?" Ron whispered..

Hermione shrugged. "McGonagall's got to know it was them-."

"Hold on!" Harry interrupted them. He listened. He could have sworn the group in the corner had just said 'Pettigrew'.

"This is stupid!" The witch remarked, not bothering to keep her voice down this time. "Some stupid fight, and we've just wasted our time here."

"Shut up!" A man hissed, looking around.

Harry pretended to be engrossed in a stain on the floor.

"He's…rat. . .come anyway….wants this bad…."

Harry strained to hear, but they were talking too quietly. Basically the group was waiting for some people, who weren't going to show up. And someone wanted someone badly…Harry felt goose bumps crawl up his arm.

He took another swill of the disgusting butterbeer.

"…Pettigrew…" There it was again! Wormtail's name. Harry had a bad feeling in his stomach. He scanned the group and felt his heart contract as recognized someone. The face was slightly younger but just as vicious as the face that had looked out at him from the daily prophet, proclaiming escaped prisoners. Lestrange, Bellatrix's husband was in the crowd.

One wizard stretched lazily and the tiniest part of an image could be seen under his sleeve. But there was no question about it.

Harry felt Hermione's cold fingers clutch his hand. She knew it too.

They were Death Eaters.

**Dun dun, dun, as I said before. We are coming to a closing of the story. Harry has to make his choice.**

**Oh, thank you so much to the wonderful reviewers. I am using up my vacation time to write this story for you guys.**

**Fanfiction isn't letting me view the reviews right now so I can't answer, but we have officially gone over 100! Yay!**


	15. They're after us!

**So sorry guys. Writers block is a terrible thing.**

Death Eaters.

Harry suddenly found it very hard to breathe. The bliss and excitement he'd felt the last couple days immediately evaporated…to be replaced by the cold, harsh reality of duty.

Voldemort.

The three of them sat frozen in their seats while the meeting in front of them went on. One gaunt-looking witch stood up and waved her hand around as she argued about something in a fierce whisper. Someone pulled her back into her seat and the group suddenly leaned into a huddle as some kind of debate ensued.

Harry looked down. He hadn't admitted it to himself, but subconsciously he had dreamed of staying here, at Hogwarts, with his parents, and the Marauders…and Sammi. How could he do that though? How could he stay here in warmth and comfort when his future self was the only one who had the power to stop Voldemort's reign of terror?

"Should we stun them?" Ron's voice cut through his reverie. "I mean, man, they're _right there_!"

"Shush," Hermione admonished. "Harry knows we can't do anything. Right Harry? Harry…say something! Harry!" Her voice broke off and she sounded like she was about to cry.

"Stop saying my name," Harry murmured. Rudolphus Lestrange was now speaking. The husband of Sirius' killer. The one who made Neville as good as an orphan.

Harry felt Hermione's fingers clench over his wrist. "Don't, Harry. Don't even _think_ about it."

Harry glanced at her, suddenly feeling strangely irritated. "Don't do what?"

"Don't attack them! Don't do something that isn't meant to happen!"

"What do you mean isn't meant to happen?"

"I mean," Hermione hissed back furiously, "If you change history, something bad is bound to happen!"

"You mean my mum and dad were meant to die?" Harry demanded.

Ron looked between them warily. "Um, guys…?"

"No, I didn't say that!" Hermione's face was flushed. "Harry, why do you always think we're trying to keep you away from something?"

"I didn't say anyth—."

"Shut up you guys!" Ron shouted, his butter beer bottle coming crashing down onto the floor."

There was a ringing silence in which everyone in the pub turned to stare at them.

Hermione pointed a shaking wand at the glass on the floor. "S-sorry about that," She said loudly to the room, " _Re-Reparo."_

The Death Eaters, or Death Eater recruits, were now looking at them suspiciously. Harry dug into his pockets and threw some money onto the table. "C'mon, we should be getting back to the castle."

Hermione looked at him anxiously, before standing up. "Yes, we really should be finishing that Transfiguration Essay," she said loudly. She stole a quick glance at the Death Eaters who were still watching them, and sped up for the doorway. Ron and Harry followed.

A dirty looking witch stood up then. She was holding her wand.

Harry felt his heart jump and it took all his self-resistance not to turn around or speed up. They were just out the door when a curse hit the wooden door as it swung shut, leaving a smoking hole in the center.

Hermione shrieked, falling backwards. Ron's freckles stood out in his pale face as he almost dropped his wand. Harry grabbed them both by the arm, pulling them upwards. "Get out of here!"

The three raced out the door as raucous laughter exploded behind them. "Are they following us?" Hermione panted as they rounded the bend.

Ron looked behind them and seemed to choke. "Bloody hell, one of them's behind us. "

Harry turned to see a tall, wizard in grey robes gliding after them with a crazed, sadistic look on his face. "Crap."

The three teenagers ducked down, and sprinted between the shops, skirting around small groups of people before ducking into a small alcove that was near the pathway leading to the Shrieking Shack.

"This is going too far, Harry," Hermione panted. "This can't go on. We are _running for our lives_. We've got to…you've got to tell Dumbledore."

Harry stared at her, not quite sure if he'd heard right. "Dumbledore? You're kidding me. What can he do? He doesn't know that we're here. He'll freak out or something."

Ron glanced at him. "Dumbledore can't freak out, mate. He's like, not capable of doing that."

Hermione elbowed him. "Look Harry, I know we have the book. I know we have a way…but what if…what if we don't know what to do? What if we can't decide…the right path…"

Harry sighed. "Hermione, you're trying to lecture me about the right path? My whole life is about choosing the right path. If I make one mistake…if I screw up…the whole wizarding world's going to fall apart."

"Oh Harry…." Hermione put her hand on his shoulder. "I know how you—he's right there!" Her voice broke off into a squeak. The trio turned around to see the grey-robed wizard from before, this time accompanied by 3 more, ambling down the street. They hadn't seen the three yet.

Hermione's hand closed on Harry's wrist. "Go. You've got to get Dumbledore. He can put a stop to this. If nothing else, he can stop these Death Eaters."

Harry shook his head. "I'm not leaving you guys."

Ron groaned. "Harry, listen mate, we love you too but this isn't about us."

"Exactly!" Hermione looked slightly surprised that Ron was helping her out. "This isn't about us. It's about everyone here…in Hogsmeade and the future wizarding world-."

"I get it okay?" Harry stood up. "You don't have to be so metaphorical." He took out his wand and looked worriedly at his friends. "You'll be okay? I don't know about this…"

"Just _go_ Harry." Hermione said, pushing him.

"Yeah, the lady said to go."

All 3 whirled around to see Sirius, James, Lily and Remus standing behind them.

"Sirius!" Hermione felt a smile break onto her face "Wait—how long were you listening?"

Sirius raised an eyebrow. "Is there a reason why I shouldn't have been? Some….dirty secret?"

Hermione smacked him lightly on the shoulder. "No! It's just that eavesdropping is incredibly impolite you know…" She trailed off, seeing the looks Harry and Ron were giving her. "I'm sorry. I-Harry—." Her next words were cut off as Sirius pushed her onto the ground. A black jet of something whizzed past, causing the grass it hit to shrivel.

"What was that for, man?" Sirius shouted at the wizard strolling towards them.

The wizard responded by raising his wand.

James was quicker, aiming a stunning spell of his own at him which the wizard had to hurriedly block. The next thing they knew, hexes and curses were flying everywhere.

"Go, Harry," Hermione hissed.

Harry went. He ducked away from the group, feeling ashamed. He couldn't believe he was just leaving them like that; His friends in a life and death situation.

His feet flew as he raced up the path to Hogwarts and up the stone steps. Breath coming in gasps, he winced at the wave of heat that hit him inside the castle before stumbling for the stairs. The route to Dumbledore's office was all too familiar though the last time he was there he was trashing the place.

Harry arrived at the wooden door and stopped cold, staring at the stone gargoyle before the door. "Crap."

"Nope, that's not the password," the gargoyle said lazily. "And I swear, James Potter, you were just in here a few days ago. You forgot the password already?"

Harry turned away, not in the mood for yet another person thinking he was his Dad. What if his Dad or mum got killed? Would that mean he Harry wouldn't be alive? How had he screwed everything up? Harry clutched his head. Just concentrate. Think what to do now…

"Harry? Harry!"

He turned and froze, staring as Sammi raced towards him. "Sammi? What are you doing here?"

She waved her hands sheepishly. "Got caught at the whole snowball fight thing, hexing a Slytherin." She shrugged and smirked. "Not that he didn't deserve it. You looking for Dumbledore?"

"Yes!" Harry shook his head. "I swear, you are psychic or something."

Sammi raised an eyebrow. "There's also the fact that you are standing in front on his door staring at the Gargoyle. Just a small clue."

Harry smiled sheepishly. "That too." He remembered the Death Eaters again and jumped up. "You know where he is?"

"Yeah, I was just speaking to him. He had to go though, because of some urgent message. You wanna go check anyway?"

"Yeah, that'd be great." Harry followed her down the corridor. "Listen, thanks for helping me. You have no idea what's going on right now."

Sammi turned and smile at him. "Try me."

Harry stopped. He hasn't actually considered telling any of the Marauders or Lily or Sammi about this whole time-traveling thing. But what if…. Harry shook his head. "I have to see Dumbledore first."

Sammi shrugged. "Sure, whatever. He might be in that room to your right."

"Thanks," Harry said awkwardly. He waved at her before entering through the door.

It was a small circular room, brightly lit by the large square windows. An empty wooden table filled the middle, while a fireplace occupied almost the entire left wall. Dumbledore was crouched there, talking to someone.

"—and then...I'll see you Albus," The wizard said, seeing Harry enter. He disappeared with a pop.

Dumbledore straightened, sighing. Harry stared at him. He was visibly younger than he would be 20 years later, but his hair was white and there were lines that hadn't been in his face when Harry had seen him in Riddle's diary.

"What is it?" Dumbledore turned towards Harry and stopped, frowning.

Harry swallowed. "Hello, Professor Dumbledore."

**Ah, Dumbledore. Don't we all love him.**

**Thank you to all the reviewers, who ultimately made me update the story.**

**Up next is Harry's convo with Dumbledore!**


	16. The Decision is made! RIP Albus

_Harry swallowed_."_Hello, Professor Dumbledore."_

Dumbledore gazed at Harry with a bemused expression. Unlike the others, he did not take Harry for his father. "Curious." He pushed his half-moon spectacles further up his nose. "Quite curious."

"Professor?" Harry asked questioningly.

Dumbledore seemed to break out of his trance. "Oh, why of course. Sit down, sit down." He waved his wand and a purple. Plushy sofa chair appeared behind Harry. "What was it you wanted?"

Harry sat down hesitantly, unsure what to make of the Headmaster's reaction. " Um, yeah. Well Professer, I'm from the future." He winced at how that sounded, but Dumbledore merely smiled, nodding, waiting for him to go on.

"From the future." Harry repeated, just so Dumbledore would understand.

"Yes, I thought something like that." Dumbledore's brow creased. "Was it a time turner or something of the sort?"

"A spell that went wrong actually." Harry was a bit alarmed at how calmly Dumbledore was handling this. "We were supposed to bring someone back from the dead, Siriu—I mean yeah, and it brought us here."

"When was this?"

Harry took a deep breath. "A-a few days ago actually. The day before the Gryffindor—Slytherin match. We didn't tell anyone because we didn't, well, want to cause a big commotion. Hermione, my friend, she's a genius and she was working on how to get us back. Then she found the same book that got us here in the library of this school so we thought that would get us back."

Dumbledore nodded passively. "I see."

"Do you?" Harry burst out. "How can you be so calm about this?"

Dumbledore raised an eyebrow. "What's your name?"

"Harry. Why?"

"Harry. . . ."

"Harry. . .Potter."

Dumbledore smiled. "Ah, Potter. I thought so. Well Harry, I'm guessing the problem is you're finding it hard to leave for some reason."

Harry looked down. "Yeah. That and the Death Eaters. See, I _have_ to go back. Voldemort is going to get very powerful in a few years, and I'm the only one who can stop him in the future."

"Tom," Dumbledore murmured wearily. "I thought so."

Harry hesitated, unsure whether he should interrupt. Presently Dumbledore looked up again and smiled that same reassuring smile that Harry was so used to. "So you aren't sure if you want to go back."

Harry nodded. "See, there's a lot of people here that I'll never. . .see if I go back and. . .it's just hard." He looked up suddenly. "Wait, what if I sayed here and just killed Voldemort?"

Dumbledore sighed. "History is a tricky business. As much as it pains us, a wizard cannot change history that much without consequences. Who knows. Maybe in the resulting chaos someone wouldn't be born. Maybe you wouldn't."

Maybe Hermione or Ron wouldn't. Harry remembered what Mrs. Weasley had said about hasty marriages during this time period.

"It is your choice to make," Dumbledore said cryptically.

Harry frowned. "Yeah, but I don't _know_ what I want!"

Dumbledore raised an eyebrow. "So the choice is where to stay here in comfort or got to wherever you came from to fight Tom, or Voldemort as he's choosing to call himself. Which do you think is better?"

Harry sighed. "Obviously everyone's going to want me to go back or else the Wizarding World will fall to pieces and there's no one else to fight Voldemort."

"Don't think about what everyone else wants. What do _you_ want?"

Harry frowned. "It's kind of dangerous for you to tell me to choose for myself. That's why I came to you! Obviously I'd want to stay here."

"But do you?"

"What do you mean?"

"Is it like you, Harry, to choose that first choice?"

Harry closed his eyes in frustration and almost immediately opened them again. "You're right." He said slowly. "I—I can't do it. I'd never be able to live with myself if I stayed in here in comfort knowing thousands of people are dying and I could have done something about it."

Dumbledore didn't say anything, only smiled.

Harry let his realization sink in and sighed again. "Wow, so this is it." He thought some more and nodded, standing up. "Yeah, I'm sure. I'm going back. It's the right decision, something I think my parents would be proud of. It's—it's what _I_ want." He swallowed unsteadily and looked at Dumbledore who was still gazing back passively. "Wow, I feel like you know me or something. . .but you shouldn't; not yet."

Dumbledore smiled. "Maybe I do. Lucky guess."

"Professor?" Harry asked in confusion.

Dumbledore's smile softened. "You are very much like your father Harry."

Harry was so used to this statement that he almost didn't realize how strange this was coming from a man of twenty years before.

"It's James and Lily isn't it? You've got your mother's eyes."

Harry smiled wryly. "So I've heard."

Dumbledore nodded. "Your parents were great people. I'm sure you'll do marvelously. . .in the future."

Harry swallowed the lump forming in his throat. "Yeah I know. Professor Dumbledore? Thank you."

Dumbledore nodded again and Harry turned for the door.

There'd be a lot of goodbyes to say.

Sammi met him outside the door. Harry could tell by her face something was wrong. "Harry. . .They're in the Hospital Wing!"

**I know this is short. but I'll try to update soon. **

**This is my RIP tribute to Albus Dumbledore. ******

**And as you can see, Harry's decided to go back….but how will the other's take it?**

**And I also realized I'm not putting in enough Hermione/Sirus. Heh heh, too much time away from my story and I'm forgetting what I started with. (2 years!) Ah well, I'll do my best.**

**Thank you to the following Reviewers:**

**Hotkat144****: I think you deserve some kind of award for being the only reviewer to stay through both hiatuses….**

**PyroAngel8605****: Heh well, apparently they didn't want to cause too much commotion. Too late. XD**

**qt4good****: Thanks! I'll try to be better at updating!**

**lilyre and livvyg: That made me feel so happy, that someone likes one of my OCs.**

**Lolizz: I'll try to! **

**Natalie: Ah, you have the answer.**


	17. sacrifice

**A/N: Oh boy. It really has been a long time since I've updated, and it's all thanks to you reviewers that I've made myself get up and work out another chapter. **

**And I've also realized that this story has really gotten off tracks from what I'd intended in the beginning. Don't worry! I'll focus more on HG/SB!**

~ *1 hour earlier*~ (From the previous chapter)

It reminded Hermione of that night at the Ministry of Magic in the Department of Mysteries. Hexes flew all over the place. Confusion and chaos was everywhere. Adrenaline shot through her veins, and fear made it hard to breathe.

A full grown wizard- a death eater- had seemingly gone crazy, hexing and jinxing anyone in sight. Screams alternatively pierced the air as Hogsmeade shoppers ducked for cover. The crazy Death Eater was joined by four others now. Five Death Eaters against five teenagers.

James dodged a hex as easily as he would a bludger and sent a stunning spell in the direction of the Death Eaters. One of the Death Eaters, a witch with a pinched up face, sent a difficult spell his way. Hermione recognized it only from one of the dark magic books in Grimmauld's library. James dodged it again, laughing triumphantly. He seemed to think this was a game.

Another spell- this one unsettlingly familiar and green- came at him. James ducked and it hit a witch trying to find cover near him. She died instantly.

Hermione saw his face change as if in slow motion. The hazel eyes darkened. His face closed up and he seemed to freeze, unable to move.

Sirius grabbed his arm, pulling him aside. "Get a grip, James!" he shouted. Hermione could tell by his expression that he'd witness the murder too. "We have to get Hermione and Lily out of here!" He grabbed Hermione's hand and she was shocked to find that it was shaking. Evidently neither trouble maker was used to seeing this kind of cruelty firsthand. Coming from the Black family, Sirius had definitely been exposed to it but it didn't mean he could accept it as common practice. His carefree demeanor was now replaced by that of a scared teenager trying to fight for his life.

Out of nowhere, a spell hit James. Hermione screamed. Sirius looked like he was about to choke. Lily calmly stunned a Death Eater (the first one to do so) and grabbed Sirius' arm. "Snap out of it Black! It's a _petrificulus tortalus_."

Sirius quickly performed the counter curse, now looking at Lily with new respect. "That was really close."

James sat up as his joints unstiffened, his face paper white. "Tell me about it."

Hermione gritted her teeth and gripped her wand. _Stupid_, she scolded herself. Why hadn't she recognized a simple _petrificus tortalus_? She had to focus. She jumped as a hand touched her arm. "Ron!"

His face was pale, but he was smiling. "The teachers are here!"

All five teenagers looked up. Sure enough, a swarm of black robed professors were quickly taking over. The three remaining Death Eaters were no match. They were quickly stunned and captured without any casualties, although Professor Flitwick was almost trampled in the process.

Hermione sighed in relief as the four death eaters were gathered together. None of them had gotten hurt. It was a miracle really. Those Death Eaters didn't seem particularly trained. They had absolutely no accuracy. Perhaps they were new recruits? Voldemort was just getting started around this time.

"Hold on." Next to her, Sirius was frowning.

Hermione looked up too, quickly scanning the area. "What…..you're right. Weren't there originally…five of them?"

Out of nowhere he appeared. It was one who had first followed her, Harry, and Ron from the Hogs Head. He bared yellow teeth and pulled out a wand. "I remember you," he hissed at her, licking his lips.

"_F-Fueganda_!" Hermione stammered, stabbing her wand at him. It was a complicated spell she'd learned from the NEWTS textbook, but the Death Eater easily made her ball of fire disappear. He even looked slightly amused in a deranged kind of way.

"_Protego_!" Hermione automatically shouted, ducking behind her purple shield, knowing even while she was doing so that it would be useless against anything more than a moderate hex. Useless. Useless in battle. All the spells she'd learned perfectly from the books…they were useless if she couldn't apply them in real life. That much she'd learned from Umbridge. She waited for pain-death even- but all she felt was the hard rocky ground scrape her arm

Hermione cracked open her eyes. The Death Eater was dead. Professor McGonagall was standing over his body, her face stunned at her own actions, but determined nonetheless.

And on the ground beside her…was Sirius. His teeth were gritted in pain and Hermione saw with growing horror that the front of his robes was drenched in blood. He'd taken the curse for her.

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He could hear voices in the darkness, fuzzy and unclear. They were all around him and he wanted to tell them to stop, to leave him alone. He tried to move his mouth, but his lips seemed frozen. With effort, he focused all his energy on a single eyelid and managed to force it open.

Brown eyes swam into view. Worried brown eyes. Familiar brown eyes, surrounded by bushy hair.

"Hermione….?"

"Sirius!" Her voice seemed far away.

Hazel eyes appeared in front of her's. "You had us all scared, mate!"

Sirius felt the muscles on the sides of his mouth twitch out of habit. It was getting easier to move. Only slightly though. With Herculean effort, he opened the other eye. He seemed to be in the Hospital Wing. Ah well, familiar territory. Worried faces were looking down at him. He shut his eyes again, his brain overloading with images and emotion.

"Sirius!"

"Calm down. Just restin' my eyelids," Sirius murmured.

He heard James cough nervously. "You know how weird that sounded?" There was the sound of rustling cloth as James straightened. "Are you sure he's all right? He isn't touched in the head, is he?"

"Since when wasn't he touched in the head?" Remus' calm voice was heard from somewhere to his left. From somewhere, Peter laughed.

Sirius opened his eyes again, trying to grin. Judging from their expressions the smile probably wasn't very pretty. "Say, why are only five of you gathered at my death bed?"

Hermione quickly grabbed his hand, scowling. "You are _not_ going to die."

"Kidding. I'm just kidding."

"Peter's over there," Remus supplied, jerking his head behind him. "Sammi and Harry…actually, I haven't seen them in a while."

Hermione and Ron exchanged looks.

Sirius raised an eyebrow. It hurt, flexing so many facial muscles at the same time so he quickly dropped it again.

Remus gave him a warm smile. "Madam Pomfrey is very good at what she does. I should know." He coughed. "_Anyways_, we're all extremely lucky that you're alive. You lost a lot of blood."

Sirius looked down in confusion and saw with mild surprise that his entire torso was wrapped with bandages. Imagine that. He wasn't bleeding anymore because Pomfrey had healed the wounds with magic, but the skin was still very raw. "Whoa!"

Hermione bit her lip. "Sirius? I just wanted to thank you…so _so_ much. That was an incredibly brave thing you did. You could have _died_ and I-." she cut off, biting her bottom lip.

Sirius opened his mouth and closed it again. What had he done? Blood. He remembered that. And pain. Oh yes, a good deal of pain. Sirius unconsciously touched the front of his chest. There'd been chaos and confusion. And fear. He, Sirius Black, had been afraid. More scared than he'd ever felt in a long time. He absentmindedly glanced up and saw his best friend looking worriedly at him.

That's right. James had almost died. Luckily it'd been a harmless jinx, but if that had been a killing curse….Sirius gritted his teeth, pushing the thought away. Then why was _he_ the one wrapped in bandages? A small pressure on his hand sent memories flooding his tired brain. Oh yes. Seeing the useless purple shield go up before her. Seeing the fear and, even worse, resignation on her face as she stared down what could be death. And most of all, an overwhelming need to protect. And without thinking, without even wasting time to think of a counterhex, he'd simply thrown himself in front of her.

Everyone was now staring at him except Hermione. Her cheeks were slightly pink as she stared determinedly at their interlocked hands. Everyone else was waiting for him to speak.

Sirius licked his chapped lips but no words came to mind. He glanced at Hermione again. She was looking at him now, her brown eyes bright. And red. With a start, he realized that she'd been crying. For him.

For one, inexplicable moment he felt like crying too. He, Sirius Black, almost cried in front of a crowd of people. Unheard of. But ever since he got sorted into Gryffindor, the only people who really cared about him were his fellow Marauders. It was them against the world. They were his family. But James would rather eat raw newts than cry in front of him, and Remus had gone through too much to be prone to burst into tears. Peter might, but he wouldn't be crying _for_ Sirius. And yet here was a girl he'd only met a few days before, who really and truly cared for his sake.

And it was in that exact moment that Sirius realized how much he really cared about Hermione. Girls had been falling at his feet since first year. He'd been used to it. Enjoyed it even. But he never had actual _feeling_ for any of them. They all pretty much blended together in his memory. Lily was one girl he did grudgingly admire, but he cared much more about his friendship with James to pursue _that_.

Hermione however, was actually very much like Lily; Intelligent and caring, but with a sort of vulnerability that Lily didn't often show. She looked vulnerable now as she now stood, looking in confusion at James at Sirius' unusual silence.

"Hermione, I—."

"Sirius!"

Everyone except Sirius turned around as two people ran in. At first Sirius thought it was James that had thrown himself against the side of the bed in his hurry to get over, but then he saw unusually familiar green eyes.

"Sirius, what happened?" Harry demanded. He was followed by a breathless-looking Sammi. "The Death Eaters? You didn't- you'll be all right won't you?"

"I'll be fine!" Sirius said with as much conviction as he could muster with the throbbing in his chest area. "It's just a little scratch. I've been through worse."

James, Remus, and Peter, who had reappeared, all nodded solemnly. Lily rolled her eyes but Sirius thought he detected as small smile. She seemed to be slowly thawing under James' administrations.

"Sirius saved me by taking the curse himself," Hermione murmured, sounding like she had a head cold. She turned away, avoiding Harry's stare and the look he then exchanged with Ron.

"It wasn't that dramatic," Sirius said with a weak attempt at lightening the mood in the Hospital room. "It wasn't like, in slow motion or anything. I just saw her in the way of a curse and sort of…threw myself in front of her. Stop looking at me like I'm some kind of hero," he added in annoyance.

"But you are!" Peter exclaimed excitedly.

Sirius saw Harry, Ron and Hermione turn to glare daggers at Petey. They seemed to do that every time he spoke for some reason. What on earth did Pettigrew do this time?

Peter glanced nervously at Harry who was nearest to him, before looking back at the hospital bed in admiration. "That was so brave, Sirius!"

"Yeah, yeah," Sirius muttered in embarrassment.

Thankfully Madam Pomfrey, who had been hearing unusually buzzing sounds in her ear thanks to James, came out of her office at that moment to find a small mob of Gryffindors around her patient's bed. "Out!" She exclaimed in horror. "The boy needs rest! James Potter, I should have known you'd be the ringleader."

James grinned and mouthed "we'll be back" at Sirius before being shooed out by Pomfrey. Sirius squeezed Hermione's before she let go, and she smiled back as the crowd slowly moved out of the room.

Pomfrey clucked as she rearranged Sirius' bandages and summoned a potion from her office. "Poor boy. I have no idea what those awful dark wizards were doing down there in Hogsmeade. Thankfully Dumbledore sent the teachers down there before the damage was too bad. You're the only casualty among the students thankfully, although a couple third years did go into shock. Some chocolate did the trick though."

"Who were those wizards?" Sirius asked with interest.

Pomfrey shook her head. "Nothing for you to worry about dear. Just get some rest." She thrust the potion at him.

Sirius turned his head away. "Are they-were they followers of Voldemort?" His voice was even.

Pomfrey stared, before sighing in understanding. "Sirius _Black_."

That seemed to be an answer enough. Of course his family would know all about it. Voldemort was recruiting then. He'd thought his mother was exaggerating when she said the noble wizards and witches were rising up to support the Cause. His own brother Regulus was eager enough.

Pomfrey pushed the flask of potion against his lips again. "Nothing for you to worry about. I'm sure Dumbledore will have this all under control. It must just be a false alarm."

The flask against his lips was shaking a little and he saw with mild surprise that her hand was trembling. She was scared. This campaign must be far bigger than he'd ever imagined. Grimly, Sirius tipped the foul-tasting potion down his throat.

As his eyelids grew heavy and he fell into slumber, he dreamed of dark wizards and aurors, and brown eyes.


End file.
